First international cargo ship leaves eastern Assam for Bangladesh

A barge carrying 540 metric tonnes of methanol left the Bogibeel Terminal in Dibrugarh district for Dhaka, Bangladesh, marking the first international shipment from eastern Assam since India's independence in 1947. Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal flagged off the vessel named DLB Patkai, which was pushed by the tug Kushal Konwar. The methanol was produced by the state-owned firm Assam Petrochemicals Limited in Namrup. The vessel is headed to Pangaon port in Dhaka's Narayanganj. It will travel about 768 km down the Brahmaputra River, known as National Waterway-2, to the India-Bangladesh border, and then continue along the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route. The total travel distance is about 1,300 km. Mr. Sonowal stated that the shipment tests whether the Brahmaputra can serve as a working freight corridor to link the northeast to overseas markets. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma attended the event virtually and called the revival of international cargo movement a proud day for Assam. Officials from the Inland Waterways Authority of India noted that the shipment happened after new Customs and Immigration complexes were set up at Bogibeel and Dhubri. Dibrugarh was once a very busy river port in eastern India where steamers arrived from Calcutta by 1856. The 1947 Partition broke that route, and a 1950 earthquake damaged the riverbed at Dibrugarh, leading regular bookings to stop in 1954 and the ghat to close on October 15, 1956. Cross-border trade stopped completely after the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, though a river trade protocol was signed in 1972 and National Waterway-2 was declared in 1988.

Context

Transporting goods by rivers is often cheaper and uses less fuel than moving heavy cargo by road trucks. India and neighbouring countries are working to revive older water routes to improve regional trade and boost the economy of the northeastern states.