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During the official tour of Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena to Bangladesh during July 13-15, 2017, the two countries inked a MoU to increase frequency of feeder services among the seaports of the two countries, keeping the existing and potential maritime traffic in consideration. There would be priority berthing and tariff concession at the Bangladesh’s Chittagong and Sri Lanka’s Colombo seaports.
The deal on coastal or short sea shipping is poised to save both the transshipment cost and time thereby boosting the competitiveness in the global market and bolstering trade ties between the two countries.
The two sides want to make feeder vessel services operational between seaports of the two countries, like Mongla and Payra in Bangladesh and Trincomalee, Hambantota and Jaffna in Sri Lanka, and even with ports of other countries in the Bay of Bengal region.
Crude oil, finished products, fertilizer and coal would be the likely commodities to be moved by feeder service.
The CSC and the BSC will also cooperate in other shipping related areas with a view to benefitting shipping industries of both sides.
Currently, there are private sector container feeder vessels from Bangladesh to Sri Lanka. After the MoU, state-owned container feeder services would commence giving shippers a dependable, competitive and effective container feeder service.
Export containers can get lower rates and cut down the time taken to reach ports in the US East Coast, Canada, Europe, the Mediterranean, Gulf and Africa by four days by transshipping containers through Colombo Port thereby reducing the “lead-time”.
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