Karnaphuli · Port of Chattogram
Shipping & the port
Cargo claims, charterparties, ship arrest, admiralty and port-terminal work.
TRW & Co · Chattogram (Chittagong), Bangladesh
Gateway city.
Grounded counsel.
A law firm for the port city: advising businesses, investors and families across Chattogram on shipping, trade, industry, land and disputes — and representing clients before the Chattogram courts, tribunals and the High Court Division, with the TRW network behind every matter.
Typical matters
District & Sessions Judge CourtMetropolitan courtsMoney Loan CourtLabour CourtHigh Court DivisionChittagong Port AuthorityChattogram Custom HouseBEPZABEZAChattogram Development AuthorityChattogram City CorporationSub-registry office
Where we work
The port city,
practice by practice.
Bangladesh’s commercial gateway: shipping and customs on the Karnaphuli, industry in the EPZs, and the courts where disputes are decided.
All services
Customs House · Trade
Customs, trade & tax
Customs valuation and clearance, import–export, VAT and tax disputes.
Court Building · Disputes
Courts & litigation
Civil, commercial and criminal cases, bail, writs and arbitration.
Chattogram · Real estate
Land & property
Title checks, mutation, flat purchases, partition suits and CDA approvals.
CEPZ · KEPZ · BEZA
Business, EPZs & labour
Company registration, foreign investment, factory licences, RMG compliance and labour.
Families · NRBs
Family, succession & NRB
Divorce, custody, inheritance, succession certificates and NRB property.
Firm perspective
Chattogram is Bangladesh’s principal seaport and a centre of shipping, trade and industry. TRW & Co brings local court practice and commercial judgement to that work, then connects it to Dhaka, Singapore, Dubai, London, China and Europe with one standard of care.
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In court, locally.
The firm’s advocates appear before the Chattogram courts and tribunals and the High Court Division, so strategy and advocacy stay joined up.
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Connected across borders.
Matters move between Chattogram, Dhaka, Singapore, Dubai, London, China and Europe without changing hands.
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One accountable lead.
A single partner owns the matter end to end, however many courts, authorities or countries it touches.
Chattogram lens
Who decides,
and where.
A court case, a customs dispute, a zone approval and a land transfer each run through different offices, rules and routes of review. Choose an area to see how it fits together in Chattogram.
Schematic of Chattogram — simplified, not exhaustive.
The Chattogram courts
Civil, criminal and commercial cases from the city and district are heard at Court Hill, with special courts and tribunals alongside; writ, admiralty and company matters go to the High Court Division.
- 01Civil suits and appeals run through the district civil courts under the District Judge, Chattogram; criminal trials through the Sessions Judge and the magistracy.
- 02The metropolitan courts deal with criminal matters arising within the Chattogram Metropolitan area.
- 03Special courts and tribunals sit alongside them, including the Money Loan Court (Artha Rin Adalat) for bank recovery suits and the Labour Court for employment disputes.
- 04The High Court Division of the Supreme Court hears writ petitions, admiralty suits and company matters, as well as appeals and revisions from the courts below.
Related practice areas
The port and customs
Goods moving through Chittagong Port meet two authorities: the Chittagong Port Authority, which runs the port, and the Chattogram Custom House, which assesses and releases cargo.
- 01The Chittagong Port Authority manages berths, terminals, port charges and the handling and storage of cargo.
- 02The Chattogram Custom House deals with classification, valuation and duty, and with the release, seizure and adjudication of goods.
- 03Customs decisions can be challenged through the statutory appeal route and, in some cases, by writ in the High Court Division.
- 04Shipping and cargo claims — short delivery, damage, demurrage and charter-party disputes — often involve the vessel, the carrier, the port and insurers at once.
Related practice areas
Zones and industry
Chattogram is home to export processing zones and economic zones, each with its own authority, approvals and rules for investors and employers.
- 01BEPZA administers the export processing zones, including the Chattogram EPZ (CEPZ) and the Karnaphuli EPZ (KEPZ), with its own investment and permit process.
- 02BEZA develops and regulates the economic zones, including the large industrial zone at Mirsarai widely known as BSMSN.
- 03Employment inside the export processing zones follows a separate zone labour law; outside them, the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 and factory inspections apply.
- 04Setting up, expanding or exiting an industrial business involves registration, land or factory leases, import and export permits, environmental clearance and foreign-exchange rules.
Related practice areas
Land and the city
Buying, building on or lending against land in Chattogram means checking the records, the registration and the city approvals before money changes hands.
- 01Title is traced through the record-of-rights (khatian) and survey records, and mutation (namjari) is processed through the office of the Assistant Commissioner (Land).
- 02Transfers are registered at the sub-registry office, where deeds, stamp duty and registration fees are dealt with.
- 03Building plans and land use within the city need approval from the Chattogram Development Authority (CDA).
- 04Holding tax, trade licences and many city services sit with the Chattogram City Corporation (CCC).
Related practice areas
A general overview of Chattogram only. Which court or authority applies depends on the facts, the documents and current law — take advice before relying on it.
Chattogram ⇄ Dhaka ⇄ abroad
The port city,
connected.
Many Chattogram matters touch Dhaka, and many touch another country. TRW & Co is headquartered in Dhaka, so one firm carries the matter from Court Hill to the High Court Division and beyond.
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In the port city
Court work, filings and meetings with the authorities in Chattogram itself — at Court Hill, the Custom House, the zones and the land and registration offices.
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With the capital
Writs, admiralty and company matters before the High Court Division, and ministries and regulators in Dhaka, handled with the firm’s headquarters alongside.
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Beyond Bangladesh
Foreign buyers, lenders, insurers and families abroad, advised with TRW offices in Singapore, Dubai and London and the wider network.
How we work
Good advice starts
with context.
A legal question sits inside a business, a contract, a court or authority and a set of people who must act.
Every brief starts with the decision.
Before the law, the objective: what must be decided, by whom and by when. Documents, records, deadlines and the people involved are mapped around that decision — so complexity becomes something you can act on.
Find the forum and the rulebook.
The first questions are often which court, tribunal or authority will decide, and which law governs. A useful answer separates Bangladesh law from foreign law, checks limitation and filing requirements, and flags what needs a current check at the court or office concerned.
The right room, across practices.
Shipping, trade, banking, employment and land questions overlap. Specialists across the TRW network work as one team when the matter demands it — with a single point of accountability.
Clear writing is part of the work.
Advice is designed to be used: the issue, the options, the risk boundary, the filings and the next action — written so decision-makers can move when timing matters.
Eleven fields of work
The depth behind
the headline.
Commercial questions rarely respect practice boundaries. Choose the field closest to the matter — each opens onto the practice areas beneath it.
Family Law
Divorce, khula, dower, maintenance, custody and guardianship before the Chattogram Family Courts.
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Family law
Divorce and talaq
Khula and wife-initiated divorce
Dower (denmohor) recovery
Maintenance (khorposh) claims
Child custody and guardianship
Chattogram Family Court and e-Family Court
Marriage registration and court marriage
Domestic violence protection
Divorce for probashis (NRB divorce)
All Family Law
Land & Property
Title checks, mutation, purchase deeds, partition, CDA approvals and land disputes across Chattogram.
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Land disputes and title suits
Property purchase and conveyancing
Mutation (namjari)
Khatian correction and Land Survey Tribunal
Land title verification
Flat purchase vetting and developer disputes
CDA plots, allotment and transfer
CDA building plan approval
Partition suits
Recovery of possession and land grabbing
All Land & Property
NRB, Succession & Wills
Inheritance, succession certificates, wills, powers of attorney and property help for Bangladeshis abroad.
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NRB and probashi legal services
NRB property purchase and disputes
Power of attorney from abroad
Succession certificates
Inheritance and division of estates
Wills and probate
Heba (gift) deeds and family transfers
All NRB, Succession & Wills
Criminal Defence & Bail
Bail, anticipatory bail, criminal trials, cheque-dishonour and cyber cases in the Chattogram courts.
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Criminal defence
Bail
Anticipatory bail
Cheque dishonour (NI Act s.138)
Cyber and digital security cases
Nari O Shishu Nirjatan cases
Narcotics cases
False case defence and quashing
Anti-Corruption Commission cases
Money laundering and AML
All Criminal Defence & Bail
Civil Litigation, Arbitration & Writs
Civil suits, injunctions, legal notices, arbitration and High Court writs for clients in Chattogram.
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Civil litigation
Commercial litigation
Arbitration and mediation
Enforcement of arbitral awards and foreign judgments
Injunctions and urgent relief
Writ petitions
Consumer rights
Legal notices
Execution of decrees
Shareholder and director disputes
All Civil Litigation, Arbitration & Writs
Banking, Finance & Debt Recovery
Artha Rin cases, debt recovery, loan restructuring, security documents and bank disputes.
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Banking and finance
Money Loan Court (Artha Rin Adalat)
Debt recovery
Borrower defence and loan settlement
Trade finance and letters of credit
Insolvency and restructuring
Foreign exchange compliance
Capital markets and Chittagong Stock Exchange
All Banking, Finance & Debt Recovery
Shipping, Port & Admiralty
Ship arrest, cargo and charterparty claims, port and terminal disputes, crew and P&I matters at Chattogram Port.
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Shipping law
Ship arrest
Admiralty litigation
Cargo claims
Chittagong Port Authority disputes
Demurrage and detention claims
Charterparty and shipping contracts
Port concessions and private terminals
Off-dock and ICD operations
Ship recycling (Sitakunda)
All Shipping, Port & Admiralty
Customs, VAT & Tax
Chittagong Custom House disputes, HS classification, bonded warehouses, VAT and income tax appeals.
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Custom House disputes
Customs clearance problems
Customs valuation and HS classification
Seized goods and customs adjudication
Import and export compliance
Bonded warehouse licensing
VAT
Income tax
Tax audits, assessments and appeals
All Customs, VAT & Tax
Corporate, Commercial & IP
Company and partnership setup, commercial contracts, trade licences, trademarks and corporate compliance.
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Corporate law
Company registration (RJSC)
Company secretarial and RJSC compliance
Mergers and acquisitions
Joint ventures
Legal due diligence
Commercial contracts
Trademark registration
Intellectual property and technology
All Corporate, Commercial & IP
Investment, Economic Zones & Projects
Foreign investment, EPZ and economic zone setup, work permits, joint ventures and project agreements.
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Foreign investment and Invest Bangladesh (formerly BIDA) approvals
BEPZA approvals and EPZ compliance
Chattogram EPZ (CEPZ) set-up
Karnaphuli EPZ (KEPZ) and Korean EPZ set-up
BEZA economic zones and NSEZ Mirsarai
Work permits for foreign nationals
Environmental clearance (DoE)
Energy, power and EPC projects
All Investment, Economic Zones & Projects
Employment, Labour & RMG Compliance
Labour Act compliance, RMG and factory audits, dismissals, labour court cases and HR policies.
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Labour and employment
Labour Court claims for workers
EPZ labour law
RMG and garments compliance
DIFE factory licences and inspections
Termination and disciplinary process
Employment contracts and policies
Trade unions and industrial relations
Workplace accident compensation
All Employment, Labour & RMG Compliance
Sectors
Markets change.
Questions compound.
The same rule behaves differently on a ship, in a garment factory, at a bank or within a family living abroad. Our work brings the legal, regulatory and market view together.
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Shipping & logistics
Shipowners, operators, agents, freight forwarders and logistics businesses working through Chittagong.
Ports & customs
Importers, exporters, terminal users and clearing agents dealing with the port and the Custom House.
Garments & textiles (RMG)
Ready-made garment and textile manufacturers, buying houses and their suppliers.
Manufacturing & EPZ
Manufacturers and investors in the export processing and economic zones and the industrial belt.
Steel & ship recycling
Steel mills, re-rolling businesses and ship-recycling yards along the coast.
Energy & power
Power producers, fuel suppliers, contractors and investors in energy projects.
Real estate & construction
Landowners, developers, contractors and buyers of land and apartments in the city.
Banking & finance
Banks, non-bank lenders, borrowers and guarantors in the Chattogram market.
Trade & commodities
Importers, exporters and commodity traders in edible oil, sugar, steel, scrap and other bulk goods.
NRB & expatriate families
Non-resident Bangladeshis and expatriate families with land, family or business interests in Chattogram.
Technology & startups
Founders, startups, software and IT-enabled services businesses in the port city.
Healthcare
Hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centres, pharmacies and healthcare suppliers.
Insights
Useful insight.
Not noise.
Long-form guides on Bangladesh law and Chattogram practice, written for the person who has to make the decision — with the law, the documents and the next step.
Explore all 180 insightsRMG Compliance Requirements: Buyer Audits and Legal Duties
Read the insightProbate and Letters of Administration in Bangladesh
Read the insightHindu Marriage Registration and Separation in Bangladesh
Read the insightShip Registration and Ship Mortgages in Bangladesh: A Chattogram Guide
Read the insightOne firm · nine cities
Chattogram, connected
to the network.
Matters that start in Chattogram rarely end there. Work moves across TRW offices with one standard of judgement and one point of accountability.
ChattogramYou are here01
DhakaHeadquarters02
SylhetBangladesh03
SingaporeAsia-Pacific04
DubaiUnited Arab Emirates05
ChinaGreater China06
LondonUnited Kingdom07
ItalyEurope08
SwitzerlandEurope09
