Bangladesh carriers report thin Chittagong bookings as protests drag on

Carriers in Bangladesh report thin container bookings and gate-ins at Chittagong, as garment wage protests continue and put delivery dates at risk.

By Procupy News DeskPublished 6 Nov 2026, 7:11 AM IST3 min readSource: The Loadstar

In 60 words

Carriers in Bangladesh report limited container bookings and gate-ins at Chittagong in recent days, with export shipments in flux as garment wage protests continue. About 690 factories suspended production on 2 November. Workers want Tk 30,000 a month, against Tk 12,500 set in 2023, and no wage board offer has been made public in the reports seen.

Key points

Carrier executives in Bangladesh reported limited container bookings and gate-ins for loading in the last few days, the Journal of Commerce said¹.
Production was suspended at around 690 garment factories on 2 November, including more than 150 in Gazipur, according to The Loadstar².
The Daily Star reported on 4 November that workers protested for a fourth consecutive day the previous day, clashing with police in Mirpur, Ashulia and Gazipur³.
Workers want Tk 30,000 a month, against a minimum of Tk 12,500 set in November 2023^2, 4, and no wage board offer has been made public².

Container lines in Bangladesh reported limited container bookings and gate-ins for loading in the last few days, as garment wage protests continued. Fresh export shipments were "in a state of flux", the Journal of Commerce reported on 5 November¹.

The disruption hits buyers in two ways. Factories may not finish orders on time, and finished garments may miss the vessels they were booked on as cargo struggles to reach Chittagong, also called Chattogram².

Protests continue past the new wage board

The government formed a wage board on 1 November, headed by a district judge and including factory owner and worker representatives, to set a new minimum wage². It did not stop the demonstrations.

The Daily Star reported on 4 November that garment workers had taken to the streets for a fourth consecutive day the previous day, clashing with police in Mirpur, Ashulia and Gazipur³. Police and Border Guard Bangladesh personnel were deployed, The Loadstar reported².

Production was suspended at around 690 garment factories on 2 November, after at least 500 closed the previous Sunday, according to The Loadstar². More than 150 factories in Gazipur alone had shut, said Amjad Hossain, superintendent of Gazipur Industrial Police².

Workers are asking for a minimum monthly wage of Tk 30,000, or about US$250². The minimum was set at Tk 12,500 in November 2023⁴. Factory owners have threatened indefinite closures if the protests continue².

The Daily Star also reported that the National Board of Revenue has asked banks to freeze the accounts of more than 100 individuals. It is scrutinising the transactions of around 125 companies over allegations of financing unrest in the garment sector⁵.

No confirmed count of missed sailings

The Loadstar reported on 2 November that there was no confirmed estimate of cargo delays, missed sailings or extra demand for air transport². None of the reports reviewed since then has published such a figure.

For forwarders, the disruption runs on two tracks: rearranging collections as cargo readiness dates slip, and protecting delivery deadlines with costlier airfreight². Shipments that miss cut-offs could face longer waits for the next sailing².

Chittagong is the country's main container port. The Daily Star reported in August that the port retained 68th place among the world's 100 busiest container ports and handled 4% more containers in 2025 than a year earlier⁶.

Europe is the bigger exposure

Bangladesh was the world's second-largest apparel exporter in 2024, with US$38.48 billion of exports and a 6.9% share of the global total, according to World Trade Organization data⁴. In fiscal 2025-26, its garment exports were US$38.70 billion, about 80.6% of merchandise exports⁴. The EU bought US$19.06 billion, about 49% of the total, followed by the US at US$7.74 billion and the UK at US$4.39 billion⁴. A 2025 Better Work report estimated the sector employs about 4.2 million workers⁴.

Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the unrest came as Bangladesh's largest market was already unstable: "Our largest market, Europe, is going through severe instability. As a result, European buyers will obviously purchase less now then in the past."²

What to watch next: whether the wage board publishes a figure, whether the closed factories reopen, and whether carriers extend cut-offs or drop Chittagong calls as bookings thin^1, 2.

What this means for procurement teams

Delivery dates, not politics, are the exposure here. Buyers with orders in the Dhaka, Gazipur or Narayanganj clusters need to know whether goods are finished and waiting for a truck, or not yet made. The first is a routing and cut-off problem. The second is a production and contract problem².

Ask suppliers this week which styles are complete, which are unbuilt, and what the earliest realistic cargo readiness date is. Compare that with the sailing cut-offs your forwarder holds. The Loadstar said prolonged unrest could force forwarders to rearrange collections as cargo readiness dates slip, and that roadblocks were already slowing cargo from Dhaka to the port².

Check the contract before you promise anything to your own customers. Confirm whether delay and force majeure wording covers labour unrest, and check which Incoterms term governs the order, because that fixes where risk sits. If goods are finished but stranded, detention and storage charges become part of your landed cost.

Airfreight is the expensive hedge. The Loadstar noted that buyers may have to consider it to protect deadlines, but there was no confirmed estimate of extra air demand². Price the premium against the cost of a missed delivery window before you commit.

Finally, start a second source now, not after a shipment fails. Bangladesh's garment exports were US$38.70 billion in fiscal 2025-26⁴, so replacing volume quickly is not realistic, but onboarding paperwork takes weeks and can run while you wait for the wage board.

Sources

1.Journal of Commerce, Bangladesh apparel factory disruptions threaten carrier volume targets, 6 November 2026. Accessed 6 November 2026.
2.The Loadstar, Labour protests in Bangladesh garment sector threaten export deadlines, 2 November 2026. Accessed 6 November 2026.
3.The Daily Star, Garment workers. Accessed 6 November 2026.
4.Wikipedia, Textile industry in Bangladesh (Wikipedia), 11 October 2026. Accessed 6 November 2026.
5.The Daily Star, Todays News. Accessed 6 November 2026.
6.The Daily Star, Chattogram port. Accessed 6 November 2026.

How this story was made: the Procupy News Desk researched and wrote it with AI tools, working only from the sources listed above. Automated checks confirmed that every number and quote appears in those sources, and a separate AI fact-check compared the story with them before publication. Read our editorial policy. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will fix it.