First ever direct shipping between Ctg, Liverpool begins

MV Amo – shipping cargo directly for the first time ever between Chattogram and Liverpool of UK – left the port on Friday. It will head to Rotterdam in the Netherlands after passing through Liverpool, which is the second direct shipping route between Bangladesh and Europe.

The ship left the NCT Jetty of Chattogram Port, the country’s main import-export gateway, around 12:30pm local time.

Moinul Islam, an official of Phoenix Shipping line and shipping agent of the MV Amo, said, “The ship is carrying 182 TEUs of containers filled with export goods from Bangladesh, and most of these goods are readymade garments products.

“Of the cargo, 57 TEUs of goods are bound for Liverpool, and the rest will go to Rotterdam. The vessel reached Chattogram on Wednesday from China, carrying another 400 TEUs of containers from China to Liverpool.”

According to industry insiders, the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a crisis in the global shipping sector, complicating the import and export of goods to and from Bangladesh.

To alleviate this crisis, buyers of Ready-made garments in Europe and shipping companies took the initiative to operate direct shipping with Chattogram, the prime port of Bangladesh.

As part of this process, the port authorities allowed direct shipping from Chittagong to various European routes, avoiding transshipment ports.

The Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) has given route permits to a total of three ships to operate the Chittagong-Liverpool-Rotterdam routes. Since last February, it has also allowed three ships to operate from Chattogram to two European ports in Italy, including Ravenna.

MV Amo will reach the Liverpool port on June 12, said CPA’s Deputy Secretary Nasir Uddin, adding that with the launch of direct shipping from Chittagong, cargo shipment in this route will take around 20 days, nearly half of the usual period of 40-45 days.

“The direct shipping of cargo will save costs as well.”