Home ›› 15 Jul 2021 ›› World Biz
The Dhaka–Chattogram water route, considered to be the most important part of the regional corridor, is facing multiple hazards hindering the smooth transportation of goods, causing financial losses to stakeholders.
Initiatives are underway for making transport movement smooth along the route but experts say it may take years for them to bear any fruit.
Around 400 vessels and tankers carry 60 per cent of imported goods from Chittagong port through this waterway every day, according to Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), ship owners and seamen.
More than 1.5 lakh tonnes of food grain, petroleum product, cement clinker and many other goods are carried to the rest of the country using this route.
While container shipments are gradually increasing instead of open ship cargo worldwide, the busiest route of the country is used for a smaller amount of container transport. In Chattogram port, around 25 per cent of shipments are container but only a few are transported using the Dhaka-Chattogram waterway.
According to the traffic department of Chittagong port, in 2020 the port handled 10,15,00,000 tonnes of cargo and among them, 25 per cent came in 30,00,000 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) containers.
But only 30,000 containers or 1 per cent was transported through the water route to Pangaon Inland Container Terminal, a berthing and customs facility built by Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) for Dhaka-bound container in Keraniganj.
Pangaon terminal in Keraniganj
Enamul Haq, director traffic of Chattogram port, said that Pangaon can handle 1,16,000 containers per year, but its full capacity has not been used since its inception in 2013.
“The container terminal of Pangaon has not yet been able to attract the attention of traders,” he said.
So far, 26 ships have been allowed to carry containers to Pangaon – three owned by CPA. A process is underway to lease out these three ships to the private sector. But officials said at the moment only 12 ships are in service.
The corridor is mentioned in India-Bangladesh Coastal Shipping Agreement signed in 2015 to carry goods from Visakhapatnam in India to Pangaon via Kolkata-Chattogram. It was estimated that this route would be used to carry a significant number of containers.
But container transport to Pangaon under the agreement, which came into effect in 2016, is currently closed.
Habibur Rahman, manager of Mango Line Limited, a shipping agent entitled to carrying goods under Bangladesh-India coastal shipping agreement, said only a few containers were Pangaon-bound since the services began in 2016.
“Now there are not enough containers to transport to Pangaon. So, we are not operating ships to Pangaon as we are facing financial losses,” he said.
“If we bring containers from India for Pangaon, we keep them at Chattogram port. Later, when there are enough containers, they are taken to ships operating on Chattogram-Pangaon route. But the process is costlier,” he explained.
Zahirul Islam, Managing Director of Sea Glory Shipping Agencies Limited, a leading container transport company on Chattogram-Pangaon route, said Chattogram port allotted only one terminal, NCT-1, for ships to carry containers to Pangaon and ships under coastal shipping agreement with India.
Due to the allocation of only one jetty, Pangaon-bound container loading-unloading at Chattogram port takes longer, which has made it difficult for traders to transport containers to Pangaon.
No berthing delays
The CPA has announced a set of facilities to use the Pangaon terminal. It is connected with Chattogram port via regular barge service, no berthing delay/yard congestion at the terminal, storage facilities for 10 days free of charge, receiving delivery order from the delivery counter inside Pangaon terminal, and pre-arrival notice on which barge and what time the cargo will arrive at PICT.
The Pangaon terminal is located within 50km range of nearby top industrial zones of Dhaka division, which keeps the cargo safe from highway pilferage.
Due to the non-increase in container transport on Chattogram-Dhaka (Pangaon) route, initiatives to introduce direct water transport in the Savar Industrial Area and Dhaka Export Processing Zone have failed, officials said.
In addition to Pangaon, containers are carried to a private container terminal at Muktapur via rivers. Apart from this, containers are transported by train from Chattogram to Kamalapur Inland Container Depot (ICD) and by road.
While half the capacity of the Pangaon terminal remains unused, the Kamalapur ICD, used for containers carried by trains, is always busy with more containers than its capacity of 4,000 TEUS. Every day, 64 TEUs containers are transported by two trains each.
Ships face hazards
About half of the 80 million tonnes of bulk cargo transported at Chattogram port is mainly shifted through water routes to various ports of the country such as Dhaka, Narayanganj, Ashuganj, Baga Bari, Aricha, Noawa Para and Khulna.
Of these, half of the goods are carried by commercial lighterage ships and the other half are carried by ships owned by various industrial groups.
The number of ships of industrial groups and commercial lighterage ships is about 2,200, of which the industrial groups own about 1,000. On the other hand, the number of commercial ships of different owners is about 1,200.
These 1,200 ships transport goods from Chattogram port under uniform management of the Water Transportation Cell (WTC), organised by Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industries.
Ship owners and sailors said there are problems on the route, especially navigation at different parts of the 261km Dhaka-Chottogram waterway. The 114km portion of the marine route is in the Bay of Bengal and the rest is in the Meghna and other rivers. Jahangir Alam, an official of WTC and a ship owner, said the main problem is navigation.
“Due to navigation problems, ships on this route have been instructed to take goods in the maximum four-metre depth by BIWTA. So, many ships are forced to transport less than their capacity,” he explained.
Half the fare than road
According to WTC, transporting a tonne of clinker from Chattogram port to Dhaka-Narayanganj cost Tk 548, coal Tk 580, rice-pulses-wheat Tk 600. The fare is half the amount of road transport.
On the road, 3,500-4,000 trucks from Chattogram port depart for other destinations daily. Each truck costs Tk 15,000 to Tk 20,000 for carrying goods. A covered van can transport goods up to 10 tonnes.
Compared to the railway and road transport, transportation cost of containers on the waterway is cheap, said business people. The rent for transporting a container of 20 feet length is Tk 10,000 on rail and Tk 20,000 on road.
Lengthy processing
Yet, the business people often prefer rail and road transportation due to lengthy processing for water transport, navigation problem and inadequate customs facilities at Pangoan terminal and other points, said Zahirul Islam of Sea Glory Shipping.
“Although road and rail transports are costly, businessmen prefer them over the waterway to transport their products to save time,” he said.
Ship owners and sailors identified navigation as the biggest issue among the myriad of problems plaguing Dhaka-Chattogram water route.
Nabi Alam, senior vice president of Lighterage Workers Union, said that recently the Bay of Bengal portion of the channel had to be shifted 3km south of the
previous channel after sedimentation made the old route very narrow.
A ship needs 18-20 hours to reach to Dhaka from Chattogram using the new channel. The depth in different parts of the channel in the Meghna River from Bhola to Chandpur decreased so much that ships need to wait for the full tide before moving, he added.
More time needed for development
Bangladesh Regional Inland Water Transport Project-1, a mega project, is underway to turn Dhaka-Chattogram waterway into a regional economic corridor at a cost of Tk 3,200 crore with financial assistance from the World Bank.
Under this project, 800km river route on the Chattogram-Dhaka and Chattogram-Ashuganj and their branches to Barishal, Bhola, Narayanganj, Shariatpur will be modernised through dredging and four modern landing stations would be built - two for passengers and two for goods.
The project, undertaken in 2016, is scheduled to be completed in 2024, but officials said physical work for it is yet to begin.
Mohammad Forhaduzzaman, deputy project director and additional chief engineer of BIWTA, told The Business Post that the feasibly study has already been completed for two passenger terminals, two goods terminals and environmental aspects of the project.
These studies were sent to the World Bank for evaluation, he said, adding that tenders would be floated after the bank’s evaluation. BIWTA sources said the process is yet to start for dredging the critical part of the project.
Forhaduzzaman said a consultant for dredging the 800km long water route will be appointed this year.
He also said that the duration of the project has already been expanded until 2025 and if needed, this period would be extended further.
