Over 1,200 reconditioned cars arrive at Ctg, Mongla ports

A record number of 1,262 reconditioned cars have arrived in Bangladesh from Japan via Singapore.

The ship named "MV Malaysia Star" unloaded 559 cars at the Chattogram port before arriving at Mongla port on Thursday.

The unloading of the rest 703 cars started Thursday night.

The Malaysian flag carrier brought in multiple car models including Axio, Premio, Allion, Aqua, Prado and Minibus.

Manager of Ancient Steamship, the local shipping agent of MV Malaysia Star. Wahiduzzaman said, due to the economic crisis, the import of luxury goods was stopped since August last year.

Now the crisis is over, so car imports have increased. On 19 and 20 May, two foreign ships will arrive in Mongla with more vehicles, he added.

Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicles Importers and Dealers Association President Habibullah Don said that there was a dollar crisis from October last year to January this year.

"The price of dollar has been reduced since January. So we are now importing cars," he added.

Mongla Customs House Joint Commissioner Mahfuz Ahmed said, due to reduction in car import, Mongla Customs' revenue collection has decreased by Tk400 crore in a year. He expressed hope that the revenue will increase by increasing car imports this year.

According to Mongla Port Authority sources, due to the war in Ukraine, Bangladesh was also affected like the rest of the world. Due to which the import of cars had decreased.