India cleared to transport goods through Ctg, Mongla ports

India has been granted the commercial permission to transport goods to its own territory through Bangladesh's Chattogram and Mongla ports.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued a permanent transit order in this regard on Tuesday.

"Customs procedures for transit and transshipment goods will be conducted as per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) signed between Bangladesh and India under the Agreement on the use of Chattogram and Mongla Ports for Movement of Goods [ACMP] to and from India," states the NBR order.

The transit order will allow the neighbouring country to transport goods to its own territory using the two Bangladeshi ports from now on. It opens up 16 transit routes on Chattogram-Akhaura-Agartala, Mongla-Akhaura-Agartala, Tamabil-Dauki, Sheola-Sutarkandi and Bibirbazar-Shrimantpur routes.

For transshipment, the operator needs to obtain a licence from Bangladesh Customs for five years. Any goods prohibited by the laws of Bangladesh cannot be transported. Transshipment goods cannot be kept for more than seven days at the ports of Bangladesh.

Goods must be reported to the Bangladesh Customs within 24 hours of arrival at the ports. Complete documentations including the bill of entry, commercial invoice and packing list must be submitted to the customs and payments of custom's duty on Tk300 non-judicial stamp, charges, fees and 15% VAT on the charges must be paid. All shipment products must be electronically sealed.

According to the order, document processing per consignment will cost Tk30, per tonne of goods for trans-shipment Tk20, per tonne as security charge Tk100, per container escort charge Tk85, per tonne other administrative charges Tk100 and per container for scanning charge Tk254 are applicable. Electric lock and seal fees will be charged as per rules.

In October 2018, Bangladesh and India signed ACMP for movement of goods to and from India mainly to provide transhipment facility to India to carry goods to its north-eastern states.

The transhipment arrangement will facilitate the movement of heavier cargos at a lower cost.

In July 2020, the first trial run under the agreement was carried out with four containers loaded with iron rods and pulses transported from Haldia port in Kolkata to the Chittagong seaport. The fourth and final trial run to connect Chattogram and Mongla ports to north eastern states via India-Bangladesh Protocol Route concluded on 7 November, 2022.

Bangladesh State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury told reporters, "India wants to use Mongla and Chattogram ports as an alternative to Singapore and Colombo ports."

The neighbouring country is keen for regular transit as its vehicles need to travel over 1,650 kilometres for transporting goods from Kolkata to Agartala through Guwahati.

It is expected that the move will help increase trade volume to the northeast on inland waterways via the India-Bangladesh Protocol route and help reduce the cost of freight.

Until now, India used to take a lot of time to transport goods to the eastern states. Transporting through these two ports of Bangladesh will reduce both time and cost for India.

Abdul Mannan Shikder, member (Customs Audit, Modernisation & International Trade) of the NBR said, this permanent order comes based on the Standard Operating Procedure signed between the governments of both countries.

"The order clarifies the conditions of port usage, various fees and charges and the role of customs," he added.