Inland waterways freight shipping fare cut by 25%

Freight shipping fare via inland waterways has been reduced by 25 per cent for four months from September 1 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The fare for transporting a tonne of goods by river from the outer anchorage of Chittagong port has been cut by Tk 133 to Tk 415 from Tk 548.

According to Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, ship owners and seamen, 100 vessels and tankers carry 60 per cent of imported goods, more than 1,50,000 tonnes of cargo from Chittagong port to the rest of the country daily.

Twenty-six categories of products, excluding cement clinker, have to pay an extra Tk 22 to Tk 185 per tonne. This too has been reduced by an average of 10 per cent.

Apart from the Dhaka region, WTC reduced the transportation fare via waterways from the outer anchorage of Chittagong port to 33 more destinations across the country.

The new fare is effective from September 1, according to the Water Transportation Cell (WTC), an organisation of ship owners of the domestic route, also a controlling authority of inland water transport from Chittagong port to the rest of the country.

Freight shipping is the transportation of goods, commodities and cargo in bulk by ship, aircraft, truck or intermodal via train and road. It can be transported domestically or internationally by land, air or sea.

Of the nearly 2,200 ships on the country’s domestic routes, 1,500 are under the control of the lighterage ship regulatory authority WTC while various industrial companies own around 250 lighterage ships. Apart from this, about 400 chartered ships are also engaged in transporting goods.

The WTC has been controlling the transport of goods from Chittagong port for decades but there were disputes with various industrial groups over the fare.

Some shipowners also agreed with the importers and demanded a reduction in freight shipping fare.

For months, the industrial groups were transporting goods from Chittagong port under their management, leading to disorder in the inland waterways shipping sector.

The WTC finalised the new fare after holding several meetings with the freight transport contractors as representatives of the importers.

WTC Joint Convener Nurul Haq said they would review the fare in December.

All parties have agreed to fix the new fare. From now on, goods will be transported from Chittagong port through WTC, said Nurul Haque.

General Secretary of the Cargo Agents Association Sheikh Mohammad, who attended the meeting with WTC, said the fare had been reduced for all destinations.

“It will benefit the importers and make WTC more effective,” he said.

About half of the 80 million tonnes of bulk cargo that come to the Chittagong port every year are transported via river to various ports in the country such as Dhaka, Narayanganj, Ashuganj , Baga Bari, Aricha, Noapara and Khulna.

Of these, two-thirds are carried by commercial lighterage ships managed by WTC, and the other half by ships owned by various industrial groups.

After the fare revision, all lighterage ships are running under WTC serial.