This presentation is published for the purpose of accomplishing IWT course for Masters program in Port & Shipping Management, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University, Bangladesh

1. INLAND WATER
TRANSPORTATION OF
BANGLADESH:
CONTAINER PERSPECTIVE

2. PRESENTED BY:
MD MOSTAFA AZIZ SHAHEEN
MERCHANT MARINER
EX-STUDENT, MASTERS IN PORT & SHIPPING MANAGEMENT,
BANGABANDHU SHEIKH MUJIBUR RAHMAN MARITIME
UNIVERSITY, BANGLADESH

3. WELCOME TO OUR
PRESENTATION

4. INLAND WATER
TRANSPORTATION
24,000 km of rivers, streams and canals
• 6,000km are navigable during monsoon,
3,900 km during dry periods
• 50 percent of all Bangladesh’s cargo traffic
(mainly bulk and petroleum products)
• Waterways carry one-quarter of all
passenger traffic.
• There are over 22,300 registered vessels
engaged in trade

5. INLAND WATER
TRANSPORTATION
•Only 3 percent of total current container
through-put at the port is transported by IWT.
•Rest percentage are mostly moved by Road
and very smaller portion by Rail.

6. INLAND WATER
TRANSPORTATION
•Bangladesh: Land and Sea Ports Quantity
• Seaports 3.
• Inland river ports 22
• Land ports (Active 10 and Inactive 10) 20

7. RIVER ROOTS AND DRAFT

8. MAJOR ICT IN BANGLADESH

9. PROPOSED RIVER TERMINALS
•Kumudini Container Terminal; located within
the city limits of Narayangonj adjacent to
Khanpur Port of BIWTA
•Ananda Container Port; sponsored by
Ananda Group, the proposed site is located 30
km east of Dhaka city and north east of
Narayangonj city on the bank of river Meghna
in Ashariar Char, Meghna Ghat.
•AK Khan Container terminal; sponsored by
AK Khan Group of Chittagong the proposed
site is located northeast of Dhaka in Polash
area of Narsingdi district, on the bank of river
Sitalakhya

10. CONTAINER TRANSPORTATION
THROUGH IWT
•DHK-CTG (for PICT)
•DHK-MONGLA by some feeding
vessels
•Other (Very less amount of TEUs)

11. PANGAON INLAND CONTAINER
TERMINAL
The terminal is 32 acres and has two berths.
The length of the jetty is 180 meters (two ships
no longer than 70 to 75 meters can berth
simultaneously); the port has a capacity of
2,400 TEUs. The distance from the Chittagong
Port to PICT, Dhaka is 157 nautical miles; the
draft of the Buriganga river is 4.5 meters.
According to sources, three private vessels are
also available to ship containers from
Chittagong to PICT, Dhaka; each vessel can
carry containers up to 128 TEUs.

12. PANGAON INLAND CONTAINER
TERMINAL
YEAR
IMPORT
S
(BOXES)
IMPORT
S
(TEUs)
EXPOR
TS
(BOXES
)
EXPOR
TS
(TEUs)
TOTAL
(BOXES
)
TOTAL
(TEUs)
2013-14 241 419 189 323 430 742
2014-15 110 170 174 313 284 483
Source: Overview 2015-16, CPA

13. CONTAINERS HANDLED BY
CP-DICD
CP CP CP CP CP CP DICD DIC
D
DICD DICD
YEA
R
IMPOR
T
IMPOR
T
EXPO
RT
EXPO
RT
TOTAL TOTAL IMPO
RT
IMPOR
T
EXPOR
T
EXPO
RT
TEUs Tons TEUs Tons TEUs Tons TEUs Tons TEUs Tons
2013-
14
812918 1112534
8
812591 501242
7
1625509 16137775 30177 315118 29,807 130,100
2014-
15
940827 1313292
3
926115 553544
6
1867062 18668369 18,243 19325
2
18588 61973
Source: Overview 2015-16, CPA

14. COMPARISON
WITH
ROAD AND RAIL
TRANSPORTATION
Chittagong Port handles major share of containers
reaching Bangladesh, of which 70% are known to
originate from or are destined to Dhaka-
Narayanganj region. Of this, major volume is
transported by Roads; and less than 10% by
Railways.

15. COMPARISON WITH ROAD AND
RAIL TRANSPORTATION

16. COMPARISON WITH ROAD
AND RAIL TRANSPORTATION

17. BANGLADESH –INDIA CONTAINER
TRANSPORTATION THROUGH
IWT
• Currently about 220 plus 700- 1200 DWT dry cargo
vessels ply between Kolkata/ Haldia Port and Dhaka
regions through the bordering inland waterways of
Bangladesh & India.
• With the ICT projects in Dhaka, the conditions will be in
place to set up container transport services by inland
river barges from Kolkata Port that would be faster, safer
cheaper of transport Bangladesh and India. and than the
current mode of transport

18. GOVT. INITIATIVES FOR
IMPROVEMENT OF IWT
•Capital and maintenance dredging
•Until recently, however, the maintenance of river network
by dredging and development of IWT sector had received
little attention from the subsequent Government of
Bangladesh with only limited resources allocated to its
development.
•The GOB now have taken extensive measures to equip
itself with new dredgers, enhanced fund allocation by
many folds, invited private sector participation in dredging
in bigger scale to revive the dwindling river network.

19. ADVANTAGE OF
STAKEHOLDERS FOR USING
IWT
• Cut off time for export shipment can be brought down to 6
hrs. Or less.
• Export loose cargo can be stuffed in containers closer to
home under self control.
• LCL import cargoes can be de-stuffed closer to home and
brought to respective warehouses within city limits in short
spell without fear of pilferage/ damage on the way.
• Raw cotton and textile products in FCL can now reach
factories in greater Dhaka within 24 hrs of landing in Ctg
Port.

20. CONTD….• Importers of fresh fruits can now release their cargo
from reefer containers close to their ware houses to
avoid wastage.
• Heavy industrial chemicals/ raw materials/ machinery
laden containers will avoid best part of the bumpy road of
the Dhaka-Ctg corridor.
• Back haul of empty Containers will be safer and
cheaper
• Most importantly, no hold ups in the river route, as like
roads.

21. CHALLENGES FOR IWT
•Water draft( river route between dhk-ctg)
•Air draft( bridge clearance)
•Estuary draft
•River traffic in rivers around Dhaka
•Fishing nets menace
•Navigation facilities at night time

27. RECOMMENDATIONS
•Private sector participation in IWT in the coastal areas
•Performance based contracts for capital and
maintenance dredging of fairways
• Fleet modernization and innovations in vessel design
•Improvement of aids to navigation(survey, simulators,
radar, communications, etc.) to accommodate adverse
weather conditions
•Inclusion of Myanmar in the development of cross-
border IWT
•Close consultation and participation of stakeholders in
the conception of an IWT policy
•Integrated logistics solutions for users

28. THANK YOU