Garment factories in Chattogram

Industry data reported by The Business Standard on 2 May 2026 counted 699 garment factories in Chattogram, of which 348 were operating, with unreliable electricity and fuel supply cutting output. A year earlier, in March 2025, BGMEA told The Daily Star that 350 of its 611 registered factories in the city were operational, about 180 of them on direct export orders and about 170 working as subcontractors. That split carries a lesson for buyers: a large share of factories sew for other factories, so the company that quotes you may not be the one that sews. The city also has two export zones, Chattogram EPZ and Karnaphuli EPZ, whose purpose-built exporters work under BEPZA. Ask for the name and address of the unit that will actually sew your order, check it in the Mapped in Bangladesh database and against its audit ID, and we will confirm it in writing before production.

No, and anyone who tells you a district guarantees quality is selling geography rather than manufacturing. Quality comes from the individual factory: its machinery, its technicians, its quality systems and how much it wants your order. There are excellent factories and poor ones in every region of Bangladesh, and the difference between two units on the same road is usually larger than the difference between two districts. What does vary by region is the factory base’s historic strengths, so Chattogram has traditionally leaned more towards wovens and outerwear, and the belt north of Dhaka towards large-scale knitwear. We treat that as a starting point for the search, not as the answer. The factory we recommend is chosen on its audits, its machinery for your specific product and its appetite for your quantity, and we name it in writing before anything is cut.

Almost all of the containerised part: The Business Standard, reporting the port’s fiscal 2024–25 results, put its share at nearly 99% of the country’s container trade, with Mongla handling the rest. The port moved 3,296,067 TEUs that year, received 4,077 ships and handled 130.7 million tonnes of cargo, and passed 3.4 million TEUs in calendar 2025. Wherever your goods are made, they leave from here. Goods made around Dhaka or Gazipur face roughly 250 to 300 km of road on the country’s busiest corridor, and a missed sailing is often caused by a truck that left late rather than a line that ran slow. Producing in Chattogram shrinks that leg to a local drive. It does not shorten sewing or protect you from port congestion, customs delays or a rescheduled vessel, so it buys schedule certainty, not speed. For a fixed sailing, ask us to quote both options.

Two bonded export zones run by BEPZA, the government’s zone authority, both near the port. Chattogram EPZ at South Halishahar is the country’s first, established in 1983 on 453 acres; BEPZA’s website, read on 27 September 2026, gives it 188,551 workers, US$2.27 billion of cumulative investment and US$47.9 billion of cumulative exports, more than any other zone. Karnaphuli EPZ at North Patenga opened in 2006 on 209 acres, with 78,138 workers, US$788 million invested and US$14.2 billion exported to date. Zone factories are purpose-built exporters, many foreign-owned, with export paperwork and customs handling built into the estate. They suit steady volume programmes and schedule-critical shipping, and they rarely want short runs. When your product and quantity fit, we shortlist zone factories alongside the city’s other units, and whichever we propose is named to you in writing with its audits before production starts.

Yes, they are the same city and the same port: Chattogram is the spelling government bodies use now, and Chittagong is the older one. Both are still in circulation. The port authority’s own Overview 2023–24 is titled Chittagong Port Authority, Chattogram, and gives its address as Chattogram 4100, while BEPZA lists its zone there as Chattogram EPZ. The same overview says the port was established at its present location in 1887 and became the Chittagong Port Authority in 1976, which is why the old spelling survives in its name. On documents, what matters is consistency: the commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading and certificate of origin should all show the port of loading in the same spelling, written the way your bank or customs broker expects, above all under a letter of credit. Tell us at order confirmation which spelling your documents need, and we will have the shipping documents prepared to match.

No. Chattogram is a seaport in a river estuary, not a deep-sea port, and its jetties limit the draught and length of ships. The Chittagong Port Authority’s Overview 2023–24 places it in the estuary of the Karnaphuli river, about 11 km from the Bay of Bengal. Its berthing guide of 2025 sets the maximum draught at its jetties at 10.0 metres and ship length at 200 metres, or 175 metres at night, depending on the tide. The deeper water is at Matarbari, which the guide shows 78 km from the port, where ships up to 230 metres long with a 12.5 metre draught can berth; its listed jetties are for coal and oil. For a clothing buyer the limit decides which vessels can call, and so whether a container changes ship at a hub port. When you compare freight quotes, ask the forwarder for the routing, any transhipment port and the total transit time, and tell us your deadline.

Three named container terminals, plus general cargo berths that also take container ships. The Chittagong Port Authority’s 2025 berthing guide lists 3 berths at the Chittagong Container Terminal, 5 at the New Mooring Container Terminal and 3 at the Patenga Container Terminal, alongside 12 general cargo berths, out of 51 berths, jetties and moorings in all. The authority’s Overview 2023–24 counts 18 quay gantry cranes and records 1,395,150 TEUs of exports through the port’s own jetties in 2023–24, not counting its inland depots at Dhaka. For your order, the terminal comes with the shipping line’s booking; neither you nor the factory picks it. What you can plan around is the cut-off, because the goods must be at the port before the vessel closes. Ask your forwarder for the vessel, terminal and cut-off date as soon as the booking is made, and share them with us so the ex-factory date is planned back from that.

Usually at a depot near the port. The Chittagong Port Authority’s Overview 2023–24 states that, for export cargo moving in containers, 100% of the stuffing is done in private depots located near the port. So the cartons travel from the factory by truck and are loaded into the container at the depot, before it moves to the terminal. The same overview allows seven days of free time for an export container, against four for imports, and gives export vessels priority at the berth. The step matters because it is the last point at which the carton count can be confirmed before the container is closed, and because the depot’s cut-off comes before the ship’s. It applies wherever the goods are sewn: a Chattogram factory shortens the truck journey, not the depot stage. Ask us for the packing list, container number and seal number once loading is done, and match them against the bill of lading.