India, Bangladesh sign SOP under coastal shipping pact

Ministry of shipping and highways on Sunday signed an MoU with the Bangladeshi Ministry of Shipping. The MoU involves the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for Coastal Shipping between the two countries and will bring down logistics and transportation costs considerably. Speaking on the occasion Shri Gadkari said that once it is operational, the Coastal Shipping Agreement will enable a huge saving in logistic costs of EXIM transport between the two countries.   The SOP has been framed as per the terms and conditions of the Agreement on Coastal Shipping and both India and Bangladesh have agreed to its provisions. Shri Rajive Kumar, Secretary Shipping Government of India and Shri Shafique Alam Mehdi, Secretary Shipping Government of Bangladesh were also present on the occasion.  

Advantages of  the Agreement:

• The opening of coastal shipping between India and Bangladesh would enable the movement of cargo to the North East through coastal shipping upto Chittagong and thereafter by road/inland waterways.
• The deep draft ports on the eastern coast of India can be ‘hub ports’ for the onward transportation of cargo to Bangladesh via the coastal mode through RSV category of vessels.
• The Indian ports will attract enhanced cargo and also the overall transportation cost to Bangladesh will get reduced.
• The Indian ports serving as trans- shipment ports for Bangladesh cargo will derive benefits by way of enhanced throughput as a result of Indo-Bangladesh coastal trade.