Bangladesh issues order allowing use of Ctg & Mongla ports for transshipment of goods from India

In a major breakthrough towards strengthening bilateral ties, Bangladesh has formally issued the Permanent Transit Order (PTO) allowing the movement of goods from India through its territory using the Mongla and Chattogram ports.

With the signing of the PTO, the deck has been cleared to start commercial operation of transit and transshipment from northeastern states to other parts of India using these two major seaports of Bangladesh.

Experts said it will drastically reduce the cost and time of transportation of goods between northeastern states and other parts of India.

Goods prohibited by Bangladesh will not be allowed to be transported and the transported goods can’t be kept at Bangladesh ports for more than 7 days.

It also specifies the rates for processing the document, the transshipment fee, and other administrative and commercial fees.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued the order on Monday (April 24), said highly placed government officials.

The PTO mentions that operators availing of the transshipment and transit facility will be required to obtain a license from Bangladesh Customs valid for 5 years.

The order says that the transit and transshipment of goods will be carried out as per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) signed between the two countries to operationalise the Agreement during the visit of Prime Minister of Bangladesh to India in 2019.

The signing of the SOP was a follow-up of the Agreement on the use of Chattogram and Mongla Ports (ACMP) signed in 2018.

Earlier, the trial run for the transit and transshipment was started in July/August 2020 and the fourth and final trial run was completed in October 2022 with the trial run of cargo arriving from Meghalaya via the Dawki-Tamabil-Chattogram route to Kolkata.

Transit of goods is approved over eight routes under the agreement. Goods can be transported from Chattogram or Mongla port to Agartala via Akhaura, Dawki via Tamabil, Sutarkandi via Sheloa and Srimantapur via Bibir Bazar and vice versa on all four routes.

As per the order, signed by Member (Customs) Abdul Mannan Shikder, VAT has to be paid through electronic transfer or direct account- payment method.

As per the order, document-processing fee has been fixed at Tk. 30 per chalan while transshipment fee Tk 20 per tonne, security charge Tk 100 per tonne, escort charge (if applicable) Tk 85 per kilometre for transportation of container by truck, trailer or covered van. The escort fee for trial runs of transit goods was Tk 50 per tonne.

Miscellaneous administrative charges have been set at Tk 100 per tonne, container-scanning fee Tk 254 per container, electronic lock and seal (if applicable) as per the rules.

Tolls for using roads would be collected as per the rates to be fixed by the Road Transport and Bridge Authority.