After a 30-hour stalemate, clearing and forwarding agents withdrew their strike on Tuesday evening following negotiations with customs officials.
The duty assessment of shipments remained suspended at Chittagong Customs House until around 6:00pm as C&F agents were on strike protesting a new container delivery rule set by the authorities.
Md Nasir Uddin, a member of National Board of Revenue (NBR), arrived in the port city Tuesday morning and held a meeting with customs officials to discuss the issue, reports our Chittagong correspondent.
Later, he sat for a meeting with the leaders of Chittagong Customs Clearing and Forwarding Agents' Association around 12:30pm at the conference room of the customs house to finally come to mutual understanding.
The C&F agents went on strike on Monday as Chittagong Customs House authorities on March 27 made it mandatory for them to clear all containers in one consignment together, not separately, from the customs.
According to customs officials, if the containers in the same consignment are cleared separately, it leaves scope for irregularity.
The agents did not submit bill-of-entry documents against exports and imports Monday. In addition, they barred other agents and staff from submitting documents.