Bangladesh Garments Exporters Maldives Route | Garment exporters prefer cheaper Maldives, bypassing Dhaka and Indian airports | Shipping via Maldives vs Dhaka

Bypassing the traditional air transport routes through India or BangladeshAccording to clothing exporters, the Maldives is both a cheaper and faster route.

Exporters said air freight via the Indian Ocean island, about 2,800 km from Dhaka, saved them almost a dollar per kilogram in shipping costs to European countries.

They said traditional air transport routes via Dhaka, Kolkata, Colombo or Singapore had become too expensive or too slow.
The RMG industry faced a significant backlog in the wake of the student protests of July and August, when everything came to a standstill.

The rates for shipping via Dhaka had increased to $6.30-$6.50 per kg, which has now dropped to $3.80-$4.10 per kg for shipping to Europe.
It was then that Bangladeshi exporters encountered the new route via the Maldives.

Kabir Ahmed, chairman of Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association (BAFFA), said the airport route to Maldives emerged almost organically as the cost of shipping via other routes was too high. There was a sudden surge in demand for shipments as factories resumed production after the restoration of order. when the interim government took over.

The demand for dry cargo transport at Dhaka airport has almost doubled from the usual 400 to 450 tonnes per day to 800 to 900 tonnes.
The exporters were also unable to ship goods through the maritime route using Chattogram as the student movement had halted activities at the port and in much of the country in July and August. The resulting backlog also had to be cleared quickly once operations resumed as exporters became desperate to meet their looming deadlines, many of which were likely extended given the political situation.

Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka is expensive for exporters due to high operational costs, charges and operational hazards.

Dhaka airport also faces a shortage of necessary equipment such as scanning machines and explosive detection systems (EDS). Furthermore, there are not enough airlines connecting to Dhaka to transport the goods.

Local exporters, on the other hand, say shipping through the Maldives is faster and costs only $3-$3.50 per kg.