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Fire at airport cargo facility disrupts Bangladeshi garment exports

Industry leaders stated on Sunday that a massive fire at Dhaka Airport's import cargo complex has caused extensive damages to goods and materials belonging major garment exporters. Losses and impacts on trade are likely to be in the millions of dollars.

The fire broke out in the cargo village of the airport on Saturday afternoon, forcing the suspension of flights. On Sunday, smoke continued to rise as firefighters and airport officials assessed damage.

The fire destroyed storage areas that housed imported raw materials, ready to export apparel, and sample products, all of which are essential for Bangladesh's $47 Billion garment industry.

Inamul Haq Khan is the senior vice-president at the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

"High-value and urgent air shipments were destroyed, including garments ready for shipment, raw material for production and, most important, product samples."

He warned that losing samples could affect future business. These samples are crucial for securing buyers and increasing orders. "Our members could miss future opportunities if they lose these samples," he said.

ESSENTIAL SAMPLES BURNED in FIRE

BGMEA is now gathering information from exporters affected to assess the extent of losses. Khan said that the BGMEA has asked its members to provide detailed lists of damaged products and launched an online portal to accelerate data collection.

The airport cargo village, one of Bangladesh's most important logistics hubs handles more than 600 tons of dry goods daily. This figure doubles in the peak season from October to December.

Khan stated that "everyday, between 200 and 250 factories ship their products via air." The financial impact of this scale is substantial.

An investigation is currently underway to determine the cause of this fire.

This is the third major fire in Bangladesh reported this week. On Tuesday, a fire at a Dhaka garment factory and adjacent chemical warehouse killed 16 people and injured many others. Another fire destroyed a seven-storey building of a garment factory in Chittagong's export processing zone on Thursday.

Bangladesh is the second largest apparel exporter in the world after China. This sector, which supplies global retailers like Walmart, H&M and Gap, has about 4 million employees and generates $40 billion per year. That's more than 10% of Bangladesh's GDP.

Fire, which occurred during peak export season is expected to cause delays in shipments, and make it more difficult for international deliveries to meet deadlines.

(source: Reuters)