A ship from India will arrive in the Chattogram seaport on Monday to begin the first trial run of the much-talked-about transshipment of Indian goods to the country’s north-eastern states through Bangladesh waters.
The ship "MV Shejyoti" left Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Port in Kolkata and took a short interval at another port of Kolkata in Haldia before it sailed for Chattogram port on Saturday night, Mango Shipping Line, agent of the Indian ship, confirmed Bangladesh Post.
Yakub Sujon, director of Mango Shipping Line, said the first transshipment of four containers carrying some 100 tonnes goods - two containers with rods and two containers with pulse - will arrive in the port.
The goods then will be transported to Tripura and Assam of India through Akhaura-Agartala land port. The consignment of rods belongs to the SM Corporation in West Tripura and the pulse consignment to Jain Traders of Karimganj in Assam, he added.
According to Indian media, India’s trial run of goods transshipment to its north-eastern states using Bangladesh territory would be the first in last 55 years since it stopped following the Indo-Pak war in 1965.
Mango’s Yakub told Bangladesh Post that the ‘MV Shejyoti’ will tie up at the jetty no-1 of the port’s New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) since ships carrying Indian goods under coastal shipping agreement are anchored there.
According to port source, the NCT-1 jetty with state-of-art facilities is dedicated for the ships carrying containers on the India-Bangladesh and Chattogram-Pangao (Dhaka) routes.
Omar Farooq, secretary of Chattogram Port Authority, said offloading Indian ship will get priority at the port. Since, the port is not busy for now, it won’t take much time, he added.
Earlier, Bangladesh and India signed a ‘coastal shipping agreement’ on the use of the Chattogram and Mongla ports in 2015 for transshipment of goods to and from India.
Both countries signed an agreement in 2018 and a standard operating procedure (SoP) during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India in October, 2019 in this regard.
This agreement and SOPs permit the movement of goods in Bangladesh through waterways, rail, road or multi-modal transport.
Eight routes have been provided under the agreements. Goods reaching Chattogram and Mongla sea ports would be transported through road, rail, and water routes to Agartala in Tripura via Akhaura; Dawki in Meghalaya via Tamabil; Sutarkandi in Assam via Sheola, and Srimantpur in Tripura via Bibirbazar.
Tariff structure
CPA Secretary Farooq said the Indian traders will pay all tariffs in compliance with the agreement.
Bangladesh has set a certain tariff structure for the transshipment of Indian goods.
Under the agreements, traders will pay Tk 30 as processing fee (per chalan), transshipment fee Tk 30 (per tonne), security charge Tk 100 (per tonne), escort charge Tk 50 (per tonne), miscellaneous administrative charge Tk 100 (per tonne), container scanning fee Tk 254 (per container), electric lock and seal fee (as per rules)
No import tariffs and value added taxes are applicable since the goods will not use in Bangladesh territory, said S M Shamsuzzaman, deputy commissioner of Chattogram Customs House.
“These containers will only go under scanning and no seals and locks will be opened at the port. The goods will then be transported to Akhaura-Agartala land port under special arrangements,” he added.
Experts for win-win situation
Experts have urged the government to turn the transshipment opportunity into a win-win situation if Bangladesh wants to enjoy the maximum benefit in the time of globalization.
Economist Zahid Hussain told Bangladesh Post that tariff on the transshipment goods of India is not much higher compared to that of other countries elsewhere in the world.
Apparently, Bangladesh won’t gain much from it in term of revenue. But the country needs to look otherwise.
This initiative can be a catalyst to boost the bilateral relation between two neighbours. On top of that, Bangladesh can seek more investment opportunities in India in return of the low economic gain from transshipment, added Hussain, a former lead economist at World Bank.
Celebration in India
The Indian authorities have celebrated the transshipment of their goods to the northeast states through the Bangladesh ports.
A celebration event was organized at Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Port in Kolkata last Thursday to mark the voyage of MV Shejyoti with Indian Shipping Minister Minister Mandaviya flagging-off the ship in a virtual ceremony.
He said it marked a ‘historical achievement’ for India as the route will open doors of new opportunities for both the countries.
This route will cut short the connectivity between the northeastern parts of India and rest of the country through Bangladesh, he added.
Indian authorities are expected to receive the transshipment goods at the Agartala land port through another ceremony, sources said.