Clearing containerised imports through Chattogram port now takes an average of 13.2 days, up nearly 17 per cent from 11.3 days in 2022, according to the National Board of Revenue’s (NBR) Time Release Study reported by The Daily Star on 23 October 2026.
The study, conducted in April 2026, analysed nearly 3,200 bills of entry, compared with about 600 in 2022, and excluded bulk commodities such as clinker, stone, scrap and wheat. Filing the bill of entry took 7.4 days, down from 8.4 days. But the four stages after declaration now take 5.8 days combined, up from 2.9 days: customs assessment about two days, bank duty payment 1.8 days, exit-note formalities 1.1 days and delivery 0.9 days.
Chattogram Custom House commissioner Mohammed Mahbubur Rahman said 82 per cent of consignments are cleared within two days. Shawkat Hossain of the Chattogram C&F agents’ association said filing takes “only 30 minutes to an hour” once documents arrive and that most delay occurs earlier. Port authority secretary Syed Rafayet Hamim said the authority aims to make cargo delivery paperless by December, with all consignments delivered within 24 hours. Freight forwarders’ leader Khairul Alam Sujan said eight to ten agencies are involved in moving one consignment from port to factory.
Source
- The Daily Star: “Ctg port clearance slows as post-declaration delays double” (23 October 2026)
File photo: Chittagong Custom House. Photo: Iqbal Hossain / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
This article was prepared by Maritime News BD from the report(s) and documents listed above; it was not independently reported by Maritime News BD.
