Inordinate delay in transportation due to severe traffic congestion on highways has been plaguing the garment exporters for long, to avoid which the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) has called upon the exporters of the country and told them to use the inland waterways to transport containers to and from the sea ports.
As per media reports, the ministry has emphasised on increased usage of inland waterways while underlining that infrastructure is being developed adequately to facilitate the same.
“We want quicker transportation of goods to and from seaports and factory gates. We want to use the ICTs if necessary facilities are there,” reportedly maintained President of Exporters Association of Bangladesh, Abdus Salam Murshedy to the media while highlighting the role and importance of inland container terminals towards facilitating increasing exports and imports.
Keeping the same in mind, the Government is reportedly constructing six such facilities namely Meghna Container Terminal, Rupayan Terminal, Kumudini Terminal, Ananda Terminal, Summit Alliance Port ICT, and AK Khan ICT.
The Pangaon Inland Container Terminal (ICT) in Keraniganj built by the Government for transportation of goods to and from ports through waterways has been a great success with the Pangoan ICT handling 28,702 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers in financial year 2017-18, which is reportedly up by 140 per cent from the container handling figures of FY 2017.
As per experts, using the container terminals located in and around capital Dhaka can play to the advantage of the garment exporters as it would not only save time but also the transportation cost, they underlined.
