Fire at Dhaka Airport Cargo Complex Disrupts Bangladesh’s Garment Exports

A massive fire at the import cargo complex of Dhaka Airport has severely damaged goods and materials belonging to major garment exporters, causing losses worth millions of dollars and threatening to disrupt trade, industry leaders said on Sunday.

The blaze broke out on Saturday afternoon in the import section of the airport’s cargo village, forcing a temporary suspension of flights. Even on Sunday, smoke continued to rise from the charred parts of the facility as firefighters and airport officials assessed the extent of the damage.

The fire destroyed storage areas containing imported raw materials, finished garments ready for export, and product samples — all vital to Bangladesh’s $47 billion garment industry.

“This incident has caused significant losses to the country’s export trade, especially the garment sector,” said Enamul Haque Khan, Senior Vice President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

“High-value goods and critical air shipments have been damaged — including finished garments ready for dispatch, raw materials for production, and most importantly, product samples,” he said.

Khan warned that the loss of product samples could have long-term repercussions. “These samples are essential for attracting new buyers and securing future orders. Losing them means our members could miss out on upcoming business opportunities.”

BGMEA Begins Damage Assessment

The BGMEA has begun collecting information from affected exporters to assess the full scale of losses. “We have asked all members to submit detailed lists of the damaged items and launched an online portal to speed up data collection,” Khan added.

The airport’s cargo village is one of Bangladesh’s busiest logistics hubs, handling over 600 metric tons of dry cargo daily — a volume that doubles during the peak export season from October to December.

“Every day, around 200 to 250 factories ship their products by air,” Khan said. “Given this scale, the financial impact is substantial.”

The cause of the fire remains unknown, and an investigation is underway.

This marks the third major fire incident in Bangladesh this week. On Tuesday, a blaze at a garment factory and an adjacent chemical warehouse in Dhaka killed at least 16 people and injured several others. On Thursday, another fire gutted a seven-story garment factory building in an export processing zone in Chattogram.

Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest apparel exporter after China. The sector, which supplies major global retailers including Walmart, H&M, and Gap, employs nearly four million workers and generates around $40 billion annually — contributing more than one-tenth of the country’s GDP.

The latest fire, occurring during the peak export season, is expected to delay shipments and make it harder for manufacturers to meet international delivery deadlines.