The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has requested Biman Bangladesh Airlines to improve air cargo handling services at Hazrat Shahjalal International  Airport to facilitate readymade garments (RMG) exports.

BGMEA President Faruque Hassan made the request during his meeting with Biman Managing Director and CEO Dr Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal in the capital Thursday.

BGMEA Vice-President Md Shahidullah Azim, Director Tanvir Ahmed and former director Md Ashikur Rahman (Tuhin) also attended the meeting.

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They also visited the cargo village at the airport to observe the current situation of service management at the airport.

During the meeting, Faruque Hassan stressed the need for increasing explosive detection scanners at the airport and regularly carrying out maintenance of the existing two explosive detection systems (EDS) as one of them often remains out of service due to the lack of proper maintenance.

Exported cargoes have to go through security scanning at the third country's airports due to the lack of a sufficient number of scanning machines, which results in delays in air shipment and is not good for Bangladesh's image, he added.

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The BGMEA president also requested improved cargo handling at the village which has a shortage of ground handling staff, equipment and machinery.

He said the space at the cargo village is not sufficient to store exported and imported goods properly and requested the authority to ensure that goods are not left out in the open at the cargo village.

Faruque also called for taking steps to make loading and unloading of RMG cargoes faster and properly stacking them in the cargo shed so that goods can easily be found and released quickly.