ANDHRA PRADESH - First Ship Sailing From Krishnapatnam Port To Chittagong

The First Ship Sailed from Krishnapatnam Port on the east coast of India to the busiest port in Bangladesh, Chittagong on Tuesday

Cargo Ship (Representation Image)

It is expected that the movement of cargo to reduce the trade gap between India, Bangladesh

Two years after India and Bangladesh agreed freight movement across the Bay of Bengal, the first ship sailed from Krishnapatnam on the east coast of India to the busiest port in Bangladesh, Chittagong on Tuesday.

This paves the way for enhanced bilateral trade and reduces the cost of freight and exim time required. In addition to improving connectivity, this will also provide speeds competitive freight. With this, Krishnapatnam port has crossed another milestone as the first vessel MV Frauke time carrying two mobile harbor cranes in April 2008. Frauke was a ship 160 meters long, leading to the cranes have a lifting capacity of 100 tons .

Over the years, seaborne trade has developed significantly. Under a bilateral protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (PIWTT) inland waterway vessels can be operated on routes between the river protocol after seven ports. These are Kolkata, Haldia, Paradip, Vishakhapatnam, Kakinada, Krishnapatnam and Chennai on the east coast of India and Chittagong, Mongla, Khulna, Paira, Narayanganj, Pangaon and Ashuganj.

This protocol has also facilitated the movement of EXIM trade and cargo bound for the northeastern states of India.

Exporters and importers from both sides have been facing undue increase in transport costs as current connectivity with Bangladesh is through the ports of Colombo and Singapore.

Md. Sirajur Rahman, CEO of Neepa Paribahan, the company that manages the first ship of the coast from Krishnapatnam to Chittagong, said, "It would now take only five days for goods from India to reach Bangladesh. This is no theft and wastage compared to 14 day road ".

With most ports being Bangladesh river, river water glasses are used to move the load, as these smaller boats require less depth. The amount of cargo between the two countries makes it unfeasible for mother ships to call at ports directly.