Bangladesh’s recent efforts to improve cargo clearance times reveal mixed results, highlighting the need for reforms that go beyond digital customs enhancements and focus on coordinated end-to-end process management. While some aspects of cargo processing have become faster, overall clearance times have increased, raising questions about the effectiveness of existing trade facilitation measures.

A Time Release Study (TRS) conducted in April 2026 showed that the average interval from the submission of the Bill of Entry to the physical delivery of cargo extended to 5.8 days, up from approximately 2.9 days in the 2022 study. Although the initial step—from Import General Manifest (IGM) registration to Bill of Entry submission—improved slightly, dropping from 8.4 to 7.4 days, the total clearance cycle increased from 11.3 to 13.2 days.

This apparent contradiction underscores the complexity of cargo clearance, which involves multiple institutions including Customs, port authorities, regulatory agencies, banks, and shipping lines. A detailed breakdown of 3,191 Bills of Entry covering selected tariff categories reveals that the 13.2-day average comprises various stages: 7.4 days between manifest registration and Bill of Entry submission, followed by 2.0 days to Customs assessment, 1.8 days between assessment and payment, 1.1 days from payment to exit note issuance, and 0.9 days from exit note to delivery. Each interval reflects different operational responsibilities and dependencies, often involving multiple stakeholders.

Experts caution against attributing delays solely to one entity, noting that intervals between stages may be affected by factors such as importers' financial arrangements, banking hours, regulatory requirements, and systemic coordination challenges. For instance, the payment stage, despite the introduction of the integrated e-Challan system for 24/7 electronic customs duty payments in July 2025, still shows a 1.8-day average delay. This gap is influenced by banking system limitations, transaction caps, and operational hours, especially around weekends and holidays.

The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has disputed some interpretations, emphasizing that physical cargo delivery within terminals often takes less than six hours once documentation and payments are complete, but delays arise from dependencies on other agencies and external processes. CPA has implemented expanded digital payment systems and online consignee billing to address such issues.

Bangladesh’s Customs house initiated round-the-clock assessment and clearance in September 2026, including for weekends and public holidays. However, stakeholders emphasize that Customs alone cannot expedite cargo release without synchronized operating hours and coordination among banks, shipping lines, regulatory bodies, and port operations.

Officials advocate for a standardized cargo-release timing framework that integrates data from Customs’ ASYCUDA World, CPA’s Terminal Operating System, banking networks, shipping lines, and regulatory platforms. Such interconnected systems would enable shared visibility over cargo status and hand-offs while maintaining institutional autonomy.

Additionally, the TRS methodology needs refinement to distinguish processing times from waiting periods, differentiate between routine and exceptional cases, incorporate median alongside average times for better accuracy, and assign clear responsibility and service standards for each stage. This data-driven approach would shift accountability from anecdotal assessments to objective measurement.

A proposed 90-day reform program would bring together stakeholders including the National Board of Revenue (NBR), CPA, Bangladesh Bank, and private sector actors to define common event markers, review persistent delays, implement operational improvements, and validate progress thereafter. The goal is to move beyond isolated digital platforms and fragmented institutional efforts toward an integrated cargo-release process that significantly reduces dwell times and enhances predictability for importers.

The TRS highlights that while technological modernization is crucial, it must be matched by institutional coordination and systematic management of the full cargo lifecycle. For Bangladesh, translating these findings into measurable improvements represents the critical test of ongoing trade facilitation reforms aimed at supporting the country’s growing import-dependent economy.