Ship Starts Journey Under Indo-Bangladesh Treaty

The first Bangladeshi vessel, MV Shamayel carrying 149 empty containers and sailed back with 91 containers loaded with sponge iron at Paradip Port in Orissa, India.

Under the Coastal Shipping Treaty, both Indian and Bangladeshi Governments will treat each other’s vessel as their own national vessels and allow for direct cargo movement between each other’s ports.

The vessel reached Chittagong, Bangladesh on January 1, 2017 completing the voyage under the Coastal Shipping Treaty between the two countries.

Now, the transit time has reduced by more than two weeks and shippers will save on the additional charges that were being charged by the hub ports.

Traditionally, container cargo from India was shipped to Bangladeshi ports via Singapore or Colombo hub ports. This not only increased the time taken for the cargo to reach their destination, but also burdened the shippers with additional costs.