Garment exporters prefer cheaper Maldives, bypassing Dhaka, Indian airports

Bypassing the traditional air shipment routes through India or Bangladesh, garment exporters have found the Maldives to be a cheaper as well as faster route.

Exporters said air freight through the island nation of the Indian Ocean, about 2,800km away from Dhaka, saved them almost up to a dollar per kilogram of shipment cost to European countries.

They said the traditional air shipment routes through Dhaka, Kolkata, Colombo or Singapore had either become too expensive or too slow.
The RMG industry was facing a substantial backlog in the wake of the student protests of July and August when everything had ground to a halt.

Shipment rates through Dhaka had climbed to $6.30–$6.50 per kg, which has now come down to $3.80–$4.10 per kg for shipping to Europe.
This is when Bangladeshi exporters stumbled upon the new route through the Maldives.

Kabir Ahmed, president of Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association (BAFFA) said, the Maldives airport route emerged almost organically as the cost of shipment was too high through other routes.There was a sudden surge of shipment demand as factories resumed production after the restoration of order as the interim government took over.

The demand for dry cargo shipment almost doubled to 800–900 tonnes at Dhaka airport from the usual 400–450 tonnes per day.
The exporters could not ship goods via the maritime route using Chattogram either because the student movement in July and August had halted operations at the port as well as much of the country. The consequent backlog also had to be cleared quickly once operations resumed as exporters became desperate to meet their looming deadlines, many of which had presumably been extended considering the political situation.

Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is expensive for exporters because of its high operational costs, levies and operational hazards.

The Dhaka airport also suffers from a dearth of necessary equipment like scanning machines and explosive detection systems (EDS). Further, there are not enough airlines connecting to Dhaka to fly the goods out.

In contrast, local exporters say shipment through the Maldives is faster and costs only $3–$3.50 per kg.