Coastal Shipping with India: Pangaon receives first cargo vessel

The first container ship, MV Nou Kollan-1, arrived from Kolkata at Pangaon Inland Container Terminal in Keraniganj yesterday.

The vessel berthed at the terminal under the Coastal Shipping Agreement between Bangladesh and India. The deal, signed during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh in 2015, allows direct movement of ships at sea between the two countries.

It has helped improving the connectivity between the two neighbours by reducing shipping time from 30-40 days to 4-10 days.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid and Shipping Secretary Ashoke Madhab Roy witnessed the inauguration of unloading 65 containers from the ship.

Booths of several banks, including the state-run Sonali Bank, would be opened there for providing banking facilities to businessmen, he added.

The shipping minister said the container movement from India to Bangladesh would save time and money.