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Published
Apr 26, 2010
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Garment mountain grows in Bangladesh due to air chaos

By
AFP
Published
Apr 26, 2010

DHAKA — More than 1,000 tonnes of Bangladeshi-made garments ordered by stores for the summer season have piled up at Dhaka airport because of the European aerial lock down, a cargo airline said.


Photo: AFP

The period between March and May is when air shipment is most in demand, as garment exporters rush to meet European fashion houses' summer deadlines, said Abdul Mannan, head of the largest private cargo operator Bismillah Airways.

"Over a million kilograms of cargo is stuck at the airport due to the ash. Most of it is garments, which now have to be shipped on an emergency basis to meet Europe's summer deadline," said Mannan.

"We have been hugely affected by the volcanic ash. The last week was horrible. Many garment exporters and air cargo operators are looking at millions of dollars in losses."

Large sections of European airspace have been closed since the end of last week after the eruption of a volcano in Iceland sent clouds of ash into the atmosphere, posing a risk to aviation.

Bangladesh's flag carrier, Biman, said that it would resume cargo flights to Europe, but warned of a "huge" backlog of the country's key export of garments, which account for 80 percent of export earnings.

"We will resume cargo flights to London as a huge amount of cargo has piled up at the airport since we suspended flights to Europe due to the volcanic ash," Biman Air's head of cargo, Shafiqur Rahman told AFP.

Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport has suspended bookings for cargo shipments of time-sensitive garments or perishable items since the European flight ban was enforced last week, said airport official Shakil Meraj.

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