This is the first of four trial runs using ports in Bangladesh to transport goods to India’s north-eastern states

Trial runs for operationalizing the bilateral agreement for transit of goods to and from India via Chattogram & Mongla Ports in Bangladesh have commenced.

A ship carrying two Indian transit containers arrived in Mongla Port om Monday. The India-bound cargo was later flagged off by Mongla Port Authority Chairman and India's Assistant High Commissioner in Khulna.

The container ship MV Rishad Rayhan had left Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port (SPMP), Kolkata on July 31. It was carrying 16.38 tons of iron pipes and 8.5 tons of pre foam.

This is the first trial run of using the port to transport goods to India’s north-eastern states of Assam and Meghalaya.
The trial run, under the India Bangladesh Transshipment Agreement, is being undertaken by Maersk India Ltd.

According to the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh, the trial runs will be carried out on the routes Mongla-Tamabil-Dawki & Mongla-Bibirbazar-Srimantapur. These are among the eight approved routes for transit of goods under the Agreement signed between India & Bangladesh in 2018.

"Transit/transshipment of goods under this agreement will reduce both cost & time for transport of goods to Northeastern States of India. Will also create economic gains for the Bangladesh logistics & services industry as only Bangladeshi trucks will be used for transshipment," the Indian High Commission said on Twitter.

In June 2020, a trial run was carried out for a shipment from Kolkata to Tripura via the Chattogram port. The 13th India-Bangladesh Joint Group of Customs (JSC) meeting held in March this year decided to to conduct four more trials for the use of Mongla and Chattogram ports to connect Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura with West Bengal.
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