Private sector to make mark in inland cargo handling

Inland water transportation shadowed by other modes of transportation for years is now likely to emerge as an important mode of inland cargo movement, with the private sector strengthening its presence in waterways infrastructure.
Speakers at a seminar said yesterday inland water transportation has the potential of playing a major role in container transport between Dhaka and Chittagong and between Bangladesh and India.
They said this mode of transportation is at least 40 percent more cost-effective than other modes. It is also environment-friendly, they said.
Shipwrights Bangladesh Ltd, a consulting and design engineering firm engaged in developing inland container terminals, shipyards and container vessels, organised the seminar on the business opportunities through inland water transportation at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.
Shipwrights is also designing and building the country's first 100 percent privately owned and operated inland river container terminal with a capacity to handle about 3,90,000 TEU containers by 2015, with full customs clearance facilities. Rupayan Group has taken up the project at an estimated cost of $40 million.
Mahboob Ahmed, managing director of Shipwrights Bangladesh, presented a keynote paper at the seminar addressed by shipping businesses, government officials, exporters and importers.
“The Dhaka-Chittagong road corridor will not be able to cope with the increased level of traffic and will be prone to consistent transport gridlocks in the days ahead,” said Ahmed.
Container movement by road, which is costly compared to rail and waterways, has been growing fast in the absence of waterways transportation, Ahmed said.
The Dhaka-Chittagong economic corridor contains about 32 percent of Bangladesh's population and generates nearly half of gross domestic product. About 85 percent of international trade worth nearly $35 billion took place through Chittagong Port in fiscal 2008-09 and handled around 1.15 million TEUs a year. But most freight traffic moves on a congested two-lane highway.
“Bangladesh's GDP can grow by more than 1 percent and foreign trade by 20 percent if the inland water transport logistics are made efficient and competitive,” Ahmed said, quoting an Asian Development Bank report.
Reazuddin Ahmed, chairman of Chittagong Port Authority, said container handling by the port would increase significantly in future.
“Road and rail connectivity have been playing a vital role, but inland waterways are yet to pick pace."
Ahmed said the government has been developing an inland water terminal at Pangaon in Narayanganj, but it will not be able to cope with rising demand.
“It is high time the private sector invested in the inland water transportation system,” he said.
MA Baset, vice president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said Rupayan Group's move to build an inland river container terminal would surely be viable.
Once the terminal begins operations in 2011, exporters will be able to transport goods directly to feeder vessels in Chittagong and Mongla ports. Customs clearance will be made available at the river terminal, according to the operator.
Bangladesh has one of the largest inland waterway networks in the world with around 700 natural rivers crisscrossing the country. These rivers connect almost all major cities, towns and commercial centres in the country. But a lack of maintenance shrunk the 12,000 kilometres classified waterways in 1970 to now less than 6,000 kilometres.