Bangladesh getting connected with Vietnam through sea route for the first time

A new container shipping service between Chattogram and China will be launched tomorrow that will directly link Bangladesh to Vietnam on the sea route for the first time.

CNC Line, a concern of France-based shipping and logistics provider CMA CGM, and Hong Kong-based Shandong International Transportation Corporation (SITC) are jointly launching the new Bay Bengal Express 2 (BBX 2) service.

It will connect ports in China, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Singapore and Vietnam since the shipments onboard BBX 2 would also gain access to the global network of the CMA CGM from the transshipment hub, said Shaokatul Islam, chairman of FAMFA Solution, local agent of SITC. 

A vessel is scheduled to leave the Ningbo port of China tomorrow and it would take 13 days to reach Chattogram. On its way, it would connect with the Shanghai and Shekou ports in China and Port Klang in Malaysia.

On the return trip, the vessel will first go to Singapore and then to the port in the Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam before reaching its destination in Ningbo.

Vietnam would be a handy port of call for Bangladesh as cargoes sent to the US West Coast would reach the destination four or five days earlier.

Currently, it takes around a month to reach export cargoes from Chattogram to the US. They are routed through Singapore; there is no direct feeder service between Chattogram and Vietnam.

Five feeder vessels would be deployed for the new weekly service, said FAMFA Chairman Islam, adding that they were launching the shipping service to cater to the increasing trade between China and Bangladesh.

Currently, there are three feeder services between Chattogram and China. With the new service, businesses will be able to transport their export and import cargoes on this route at a competitive rate.

CNC Line recently stated in its website that as an express service from China to Bangladesh, the BBX 2 promises shippers one of the best transit times in the market.

Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, chairman of the standing committee on port and shipping of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, hopes the new service would open up a new avenue for transshipping in the country's export cargo since the exporters had so far been dependent mostly on Singapore.