A new direction in Bangladesh-India trade relations opened through importing goods by Multimodal site door container train. India’s first cargo train has entered Benapole port with 640 metric tons of goods in 50 containers.
Earlier, 384 tons of dried chilies arrived in the first parcel train. Besides, other trains are carrying food items including onions in ordinary freight trains.
This time the goods of eight companies including P&G Bangladesh Limited have arrived at Benapole port by cargo train.
The train left Mominpur in Kolkata for Benapole on July 24 and reached Benapole station around 12 noon on Sunday (July 26).
Benapole Customs Commissioner Azizur Rahman inaugurated the new horizon of this new commercial expansion. Additional Commissioner Neyamul Islam, Joint Commissioner Shahidul Islam, Port Deputy Director (Administration) Abdul Jalil, Deputy Director (Traffic) Mamun Kabir Tarafdar, C&F Agents Association President Mofizur Rahman Swajan, Customs Affairs Secretary Nasir Uddin, Railway Station Officer Saiduzzam, And a representative of MGH Group (Transmarine Logistics) Vendor Partner MM International in Container Management were present there.
Normally most of the goods were imported from India by road. Transport services between the two countries have been disrupted due to the Coronavirus since March 2020, affecting India-Bangladesh bilateral trade. Imports and exports were being hampered due to various forms of harassment including detention of trucks carrying imported goods including extortion by a syndicate in the Kalitala parking lot of Bangaon Municipality opposite the Benapole. As a result, the cost of importers was doubling.
Many importers turn away from the port. To protect the port from these clutches, the governments of the two countries decided to import goods by train.
Indian High Commission proposed to the Bangladesh Railway authority to run cargo train service to simply reduce the disruption in the supply chain.
Later, Bangladesh-India Railway implemented this service through the joint efforts of Bangladesh and Indian Customs. After the permission of the National Board of Revenue, the import of goods started by train. Importing goods by container by train will save both time and cost, including the safety of the importer’s goods.