Due to the malfunction of explosive-detection scanners (EDSs), air cargo flows through Bangladesh’s Dhaka Airport are again facing issues. According to forwarders, outbound cargo is being stockpiled inside cargo villages.
In recent months, air exports through Dhaka increased several-fold, freight rates had doubled and, in some cases, even tripled, to the main destinations for Bangladeshi apparel exports.
As per media reports, only one of the airport’s EDS machines is working, as air cargo demand and rates out of the country have significantly increased this year.
Of the four EDSs at Dhaka Airport, one had been out of order for a long period, and during the past three weeks two more stopped working.
Kabir Ahmed, President, Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association (BAFFA), wrote to the civil aviation authority that it is utterly impossible to meet the requirements of freight forwarders with only one operational EDS.
Reports also claimed that Dhaka Airport has been regularly plagued by problems with its scanning machines as they failed in 2020, 2021 and 2022, and can take months to repair.