Operator of Birgunj dry port Himalayan Terminal has said that it will waive various types of fees for exporters and importers for 40 days as their shipments have been stuck there for months due to the Tarai banda.

Exporters and importers have not been able to ship their goods to their destinations as transportation has been cut off by the banda in the Tarai region.

Aminesh Kumar, chief of the financial department at Himalayan Terminal, said that the company decided not to charge various fees including warehouse facility and container parking fees for 40 days.

According to him, exporters and importers will not have to pay any fees for the storage of goods for one to three days. After that, they will be charged Rs7 per tonne for four to 10 days. Goods kept in the warehouse for longer than that period will be charged Rs90 per tonne for 11 to 30 days and Rs140 per tonne after 31 days.

Likewise, Himalayan Terminal will not charge a container parking fee for one day. After that, a fee of Rs165 per day will be charged for a 20-foot container for two to seven days. The fee will go up to Rs220 per day per container from the eighth day.

The parking fee is Rs220 per day for a 40-feet container for two to seven days. The fee rises to Rs330 after that period.

Similarly, the dry port will not charge a fee for parking containers in the open yard for the first day. After that, it will charge Rs40 per tonne for two to seven days. The fee goes up to Rs60 per tonne from the eighth day.

Exporters and importers have been demanding that the fees be waived for the entire period of the banda as they had not been able to deliver their goods for the last three months due to the banda organised by Madhes-based parties. An agitation by the workers in the dry port made things more difficult although the goods could be removed under police escort.

Shyam Babu Patel, central vice-president of the Customs Agents’ Federation, said that goods could not be transported from the dry port due to the non-cooperation of Himalayan Terminal. “We are ready for customs clearance, but the dry port management didn’t cooperate citing the strike by its workers,” he said.

According to Harihar Poudel, information officer at the dry port customs office, about 300 loaded trucks are currently stranded at the dry port. About 120,000 tonnes of goods such as iron, sponge iron and chemical fertilizers are stuck there.

In the last two weeks, a few containers and bulk goods have been removed from the dry port under police escort.