Goods arriving from the north and south for Dashain have been stuck in bordering areas for the last five days. As the major highways remain obstructed following the incidents of floods and landslides caused by the late September rains, there is little hope that the consignments will arrive in Kathmandu ahead of the festival.

Hari Bahadur Gautam, president of the Nepal Traders Association, said that more than 300 containers have been stuck on the Tatopani and Kerung borders points as of Tuesday. Most containers carried festive and winter goods, especially readymade garments.

The border with China has been closed since Friday due to the floods and landslides caused by incessant rainfall.

Dashain shopping starts from Ghatasthapana on Thursday, the first of the ten-day festival.

Most containers of goods have been stranded in Khasa and Kerung in China’s Tibet, and at the customs on the Nepali side, said Gautam.

The landslides and floods have damaged the roads on both sides.

He said that road repairs would not be possible before Dashain. The Bhotekoshi river swept away the Bailey bridge at Larcha near Tatopani, Nepal’s second largest customs on the northern border.

Kumar Shrestha, ward chairman of Bhotekoshi Rural Municipality-2, said that the road is being repaired by putting a hume pipe in Larcha after two days of negotiations with the rural municipality.

“We are trying to open the road by using excavators. It will take 2–3 days to reopen the road,” Shrestha said.

Shrestha said temporary arrangements have been made by laying iron poles in the bridge for the movement of locals.

“Though there is no authentic data on the containers stranded at the China border, traders say they have received only 5 percent of the goods they ordered for Dashain,” Gautam said.

After the impact of the Covid-19 and the subsequent economic slowdown, traders hoped for sales recovery. “The flood and landslide, however, has stalled the cargo movement, shattering traders' hope,” Gautam said.

In Kathmandu, most traders had stocked their goods on the banks of the Bagmati and Manohara rivers, which have also been flooded.

Traders said that price hikes of goods are unavoidable to recover the losses.

Due to floods on the Liping river, a large part of the bridge connecting Liping and Kodari has been damaged.

Maintenance work has started, according to the Bhotekoshi rural municipality.

“The traders have requested the government to immediately rebuild the Larcha and Liping bridges.

Rajendra Sangraula, senior vice president of Nepal Freight Forwarders Association, said goods from India have been halted in the border areas as the road network connecting Kathmandu has been damaged. He said that since the transporters have hiked their freight charges, goods, particularly apparel, would be expensive in the Kathmandu market.

The transporters have hiked the cargo fare of 12-wheeler trucks from Rs70,000 to Rs130,000 for Birgunj-Kathmandu.

A loaded container that used to take a maximum of two days to arrive in Kathmandu from southern border points may now take days. The association said the exports are also stuck on the road.

“Due to the high risk, transporters are not allowing their trucks to carry goods. Drivers are worried. This situation may increase the transit cost and, as a result, increase the prices,” Sangraula said.

“The highway needs to be repaired promptly as further delays may increase the overall logistic cost,” Sangraula said.

According to the association, the Tribhuvan Highway, which is currently blocked for cargo movement, used to see more than 100 goods-laden trucks coming daily from major customs like Birgunj, Biratnagar, and Bhairahawa.

According to the Department of Customs, Nepal’s imports declined by 1.16 percent to Rs1.59 trillion in the last fiscal year, 2023-24, which ended in mid-July. The exports, too, declined by 3.03 percent to Rs152.38 billion in the same period.

In the last fiscal year, Nepal imported goods worth Rs298.77 billion from China, while exports were Rs2.58 billion.

Nepal imported goods worth Rs996.68 billion from India, while exports were Rs103.17 billion during the review period.