The Indian trial-run container ship “MV Rishad Rayhan” arrived at the Mongla Port Sunday morning from Kolkata.
“The container ship left Kolkata on 1 August and reached Mongla Port on Sunday at 7am. The ship will anchor on Monday at the jetty number 9 and the cargoes will be unloaded the same day,” Mongla Port Authority Harbour Master Commander Sheikh Fakhar Uddin said.
The ship has carried 16 tonnes of iron pipes in one of its two containers, he said.
The iron pipes will be transported to Meghalaya in India through the Tamabil-Douki route.
Another container has been carrying 8.5 tonnes of prefoam that will be transported to Assam through Mongla-Bibirbazar-Srimontopur route. Bangladesh will get Tk20 transshipment fee for each of the product.
The trial runs are being implemented under the ‘Agreement on the Use of Chattogram and Mongla Port for Movement of Goods To and From India (ACMP)’ signed in 2018 between the two countries.
Two trial runs out of the total four in the second phase will be conducted now under the agreement.
In July 2020, the first trial run was completed during when small container ships reached to Chattogram Port. The cargoes included lentils and iron rods and were transported to Agartola by road at that time.
According to the office order issued by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) on the trial run of the Indian goods, the cargoes will leave Bangladesh within seven days of its entrance. Escort service will be provided during the transportation of goods inside Bangladesh. Bangladesh will get Tk30 (each consignment) for the document processing fee for the ongoing trial run, Tk100 for per ton security charge, Tk50 for per ton escort charge, Tk100 for other administrative charges for per ton goods and Tk254 as scanning fee for each container.