A coalition of 36 Bangladesh-based apparel manufacturers wants to take legal action against a freight forwarder for unpaid dues following the 2020 bankruptcy of U.K.-based department store Debenhams.

The ready-made garment exporters, known as the Debenhams Vendors Community, issued a legal notice against Expo Freight Limited (EFL) in April, alleging that the freight forwarder has failed to pay $10.2 million in arrears. Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, as well as container services company BLPL and freight forwarders TPL and Skyways Limited were also included in the legal notice.

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If a payment is not made by Oct. 20, the collective of manufacturers plan to sue Expo and the remaining parties. The community also plans on protesting outside the Expo office in Dhaka if the deadline passes without a payment.

“Following the issuance of the legal notice, EFL and Maersk Line contacted us and agreed to pay 70 percent of the freight on board value for the goods transported by Maersk Line. We received $5.84 million so far while $10.21 million remains due,” said Debenhams Vendors Community convener Md Zahangir Alam during a press conference at the Economic Reporters’ Forum in Dhaka on Oct. 5.

Debenhams initially appointed EFL to help the retailer import apparel items from the Bangladeshi suppliers, which the vendors claim makes the freight forwarder and its logistics partners legally responsible for the payments.

But the department store’s bankruptcy in 2020 has caused financial hardship for the garment exporters in the time since. Alam has sought intervention from the Bangladesh Bank and the National Board of Revenue (NBR), saying that if payments are not received by Oct. 21 that factories will be unable to pay their workers.

“Most of the Debenhams suppliers are now fighting to survive,” said Alam. “We are unable to pay wages in time now. Most of these factories will be closed unless we can get the money back in a fortnight, and hundreds of workers will lose their jobs if the factories are closed down.”

Alam said that the vendors supplied garments worth $70.5 million before Debenhams went bankrupt. Over the past four years, around $60 million of this amount has been settled, according to the community.

“We tried to solve this matter and succeeded to some extent. However, due to the negligence of the EFL, we are yet to receive the total export payments,” Alam said. “We contracted with the administrator and lodged our claim. We had several Zoom meetings and managed to sell the goods lying at the U.K. port and in transit to the administrator.”