Mohammad Shawkat Ali, Secretary General of the Chittagong Customs Agents Association, said that the Saudi company has no right to increase rental charges for port users.

What happened?

Red Sea Gateway Terminal, in which Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman holds a majority stake, has begun operating and managing the Patenga Terminal at Chittagong Port in Bangladesh under a 22-year operating agreement with the Bangladeshi government.

The Saudi company began its operations by increasing container storage charges for traders and local residents, prompting protests and calls from members of the public for the company to leave.

The company claimed that the increase in storage charges was intended to reduce the volume of cargo being stored at the port. However, traders and local residents rejected this explanation, stating that they had used the port for storage for decades at the previous rates without any storage crisis or operational problems before the arrival of the Saudi operator.