Chittagong Port, the prime seaport of the country, has long been very rightly considered the heart of the export-import trade of the country or the lifeline of the national economy and it still very much remains so. It is the principal gateway for the export-import trade of the country. The volume of trade has been increasing with time making Chittagong Port go through the evolution it has already sustained so far. The process and pace of development has not been as fast as expected or required. Nevertheless Chittagong Port has been doing its level best to cater for the export-import trade of the country by handling its gradually increasing volume of goods.
When containerization started getting introduced at the beginning of the eighties of twentieth century, i.e. in 1981, Chittagong Port had no other alternative but to get adapted for the newly introduced process of the global supply chain management. At that juncture Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) deemed it necessary to request the local entrepreneurs to come forward and invest in setting up Inland Container Depot (ICD). The businessmen at that time were barely familiar with the idea of ICD and there were not interested to make foray into some venture they had very little concept about. However, in 1985 Sea Farers Limited, the first ICD of the country was set up. Then came up Ocean Containers Limited [now Summit Alliance Port Limited (North)] in 1988. Shafi Motors was set up in 1996 and Iqbal Enterprise Limited in 1998. QNS in 1999. The ICDs had only handled empty containers up to 1998. The permission for storage and containerization of export goods was first obtained by Shafi Motors Limited but it was the Iqbal Enterprise Limited that first containerized export goods and dispatched the export laden containers to Chittagong Port for shipment.
After 1999 the number of ICDs started increasing. Towards the end of 2006 some selected ICDs were given permission to give delivery of nine items of containerized bulk cargo from their premises such as rice, wheat, chick-peas, lentils, mustard, animal feed, raw cotton, waste paper, scrap. Later all the ICDs were permitted to handle all these containerized import goods. In August 2010, the ICDs were permitted to handle another eight items of containerized cargo such fertilizer, onion, garlic, ginger, hard coke, carbon black, marble chips, ball-clay. With time the private ICDs have been given permission to handle more import items and at present they are handling a total of 37 import items. In future this number of import items is very likely to increase since the import volume is increasing substantially and Chittagong Port Authority feels the need of the time to shift the total import operation to private ICDs.
| Year | Event |
| 1985 | Sea Farers Limited, the first ICD of the country was established |
| 1988 | Ocean Containers Limited, the second ICD of the country was established |
| 1996 | Shafi Motors Limited, the third ICD of the country was set up |
| 1985-1998 | ICDs handled only empty containers: Removal of empty containers from Port, storage of empty containers and dispatch the empty containers to Port for export stuffing and then onward shipment or direct shipment. |
| 1999 | ICDs Started handling export goods: Storage of export goods in the Cargo Freight Station (CFS), stuff them into containers and dispatch the containers to Port for shipment |
| 1999-2006 | ICDs handled empty containers and export goods |
| 2007 | ICDs started handling selected number of containerized bulk imported goods |
• Sea Farers Ltd. (Non-functional now): 1984
• Ocean Containers Ltd. (Now Summit Alliance Port Ltd. – North): 1988
• Shafi Motors Ltd.: 1996
• Iqbal Enterprise Ltd. (Non-functional now): 1998
• QNS Container Services Ltd.: 1999
• Vertex Off-docks Logistics Services Ltd.: 1999 (November)
• K&T Logistics Ltd.: 2001 (May)
• Esack Brothers Industries Ltd. (Container Yard): 2003
• Portlink Logistics Centre Ltd.: 2003
• Chittagong Container Transportation Company Ltd.: 2004
• Summit Alliance Port Ltd. (East and West): 2007
• KDS Logistics Ltd.: 2008 (June)
• Golden Containers Ltd.: 2008 (August)
• Incontrade Ltd.: 2008
• Eastern Logistics Ltd.: 2009
• Haji Saber Ahmed Timber Company Ltd. (Container Yard): 2009
• BM Container Depot Ltd.: 2011 (October)
• Nemsan Containers Ltd.: 2011 (June)