Delhi mulls giving Bangladesh access to ports on west coast

[Black_cats]

Delhi mulls giving Bangladesh access to ports on west coast

Pratim Ranjan Bose Guwahati | Updated on July 19, 2019 Published on July 19, 2019

https://www.thehindubusinessline.co...ss-to-ports-on-west-coast/article28593841.ece

Part of move to improve India’s attractiveness as a transshipment hubwill
At a time when Nepal is bracing for a multi-billion dollar bill for rail connectivity to Chinese ports located over 4,000 km away, India is discussing the possibility of giving Bangladesh access to the west coast ports ofl JNPT or Mundra, which can receive large mother vessels and are located a little over 2,000 km away from Dhaka.

The connectivity will come at no extra cost, as a series of India-sponsored rail-link projects are under implementation between India and Bangladesh. And, Dhaka is building a bridge over the Padma river. The proposal, which is in initial stages, is a win-win for both the countries. Bangladesh now ships its exports, mostly garments, by daughter vessels through the congested Chittagong port to Colombo, Singapore or Port of Klang for transshipment to mother vessels. The entire process is time-consuming with cost implications.

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Bangladesh aspires to have deep-sea ports. However, considering its limited cargo potential, there is a question mark over the viability of such facilities, which involve substantial investments. Also, there is no guarantee that shipping lines will send mother vessels to Bangladesh.

India has already offered Bangladesh the right to use Kolkata port (in exchange for Bangladesh granting the North-East region access to Chittagong port). However, it may not solve the long-term problems of Dhaka, as Kolkata, being a river port, cannot draw large vessels.

The other Indian ports on the east coast are either yet to have container traffic or suffer from low draft. India is building three ports — including the proposed $4-billion Vizhinjam port by Adani group — to attract transshipment traffic from Colombo or Klang. However, this will take time. Meanwhile, the Narendra Modi government is keen to improve India’s attractiveness as a transshipment hub by inviting neighbours to use its deep-draft port facilities on the west coast.

With Customs having implemented the electronic cargo tracking system, third country containers can easily pass through without physical checks and the resultant delay. The huge investments underway in rail infra will make movement of goods easier. It might also add to the viability of the upcoming freight corridor.

With connectivity issues getting resolved fast, both India and Bangladesh are looking forward to making better use of the infrastructure.

 

[Mamluk]

India has already offered Bangladesh the right to use Kolkata port (in exchange for Bangladesh granting the North-East region access to Chittagong port). However, it may not solve the long-term problems of Dhaka, as Kolkata, being a river port, cannot draw large vessels.

That's just the sort of underhanded deals you are getting. Maybe Banglas are too dumb to realize.

You need to stop working with India. It's never win-win.

 

[mb444]

BD deep sea ports when they come online will be fine for BD requirements.

This deal seems like a costly and time consuming proposition. Its always cheaper to transport good by sea then overland.

But in terms of connectivity i am all for regional symbiosis.

 

[bluesky]

A day is coming when India will tell Dhaka, "Since your Bangladesh Airlines is in shambles why do not your people come to the deep Bombay airport on the west coast?" Bloody stupid India and brainless BAL politicians!!

 

[Kaniska]

BD deep sea ports when they come online will be fine for BD requirements.

This deal seems like a costly and time consuming proposition. Its always cheaper to transport good by sea then overland.

But in terms of connectivity i am all for regional symbiosis.

Nothing to get paranoid about this offer...If it is economically suitable to you, accept the offer.Regional connectivity is key to our success in coming days

 

[Bilal9]

I believe Matarbari/Sonadia will come online in three years time, and that deep-draft facility will be able to receive container ships of 44,000 to 50,000 DWT capacity. Those ships can go all the way to Europe or the US.

This JNPT/Mundra (Mumbai/Gujarat) trans-shipment scheme has its flaws (not to mention the time needed to transport containers across India's cow-belt BIMARU states), without even starting to question their port inefficiencies. Singapore is so much closer and their trans-shipment efficiency is top-notch (world's best pretty much). Why even consider India trans-shipment option??

Now if we consider exports to Indian land ports INSIDE India using container trains, then time and efficiency is not that big of a concern considering closeness and proximity.

It seems some folks (in this case mostly Indian port officials) are blowing up congestion problems at Chittagong port and trying to make hay out of it. Bangladesh does not need (now or ever) any trans-shipment facility from any Indian port. For that matter we don't need to use our ports to supply NE Indians either. But we are doing this is a courtesy.

There is a common Bengali proverb 'Onurodhey Dheki Gela' (trying to swallow a huge rice-husker at someone's inappropriate and unwelcome request). That would be an apt simile here. We gain absolutely nothing from providing trans-shipment for Indian goods. There is nothing in it for us and every benefit gained by Indians alone.
It is a facility provided to Indians out of courtesy alone.

 

[Goku]

I believe Matarbari/Sonadia will come online in three years time, and that deep-draft facility will be able to receive container ships of 44,000 to 50,000 DWT capacity. Those ships can go all the way to Europe or the US.

This JNPT/Mundra (Mumbai/Gujarat) trans-shipment scheme has its flaws (not to mention the time needed to transport containers across India's cow-belt BIMARU states), without even starting to question their port inefficiencies. Singapore is so much closer and their trans-shipment efficiency is top-notch (world's best pretty much). Why even consider India trans-shipment option??

Now if we consider exports to Indian land ports INSIDE India using container trains, then time and efficiency is not that big of a concern considering closeness and proximity.

It seems some folks (in this case mostly Indian port officials) are blowing up congestion problems at Chittagong port and trying to make hay out of it. Bangladesh does not need (now or ever) any trans-shipment facility from any Indian port. For that matter we don't need to use our ports to supply NE Indians either. But we are doing this is a courtesy.

There is a common Bengali proverb 'Onurodhey Dheki Gela' (trying to swallow a huge rice-husker at someone's inappropriate and unwelcome request). That would be an apt simile here. We gain absolutely nothing from providing trans-shipment for Indian goods. There is nothing in it for us and every benefit gained by Indians alone.
It is a facility provided to Indians out of courtesy alone.

True Bangladesh shouldn't use any Indian ports

Nothing to get paranoid about this offer...If it is economically suitable to you, accept the offer.Regional connectivity is key to our success in coming days

I dont why they are so butthurt on every Bangladesh -India cooperation lol i wish this doesn't go forward

A day is coming when India will tell Dhaka, "Since your Bangladesh Airlines is in shambles why do not your people come to the deep Bombay airport on the west coast?" Bloody stupid India and brainless BAL politicians!!

We didn't tell , we have just made a offer , ultimate decision will be made by your government , dont blame India if "YOUR" says yes to the offer

 

[Bilal9]

A few more thoughts - I believe Indian bureaucrats want to basically create a dependency on Bangladesh' part for container trans-shipment through Indian Railway and via Indian ports. The reason is that can be used as leverage for Indian NE trans-shipment from Chittagong or other Bangladeshi ports.

No responsible govt. official in Bangladesh wants to transship anything for Indian NE destinations. Like I said there is zero in it for us.

So, India has plenty of shipping options for its Northeast which doesn't have much growth in any case. If anything, Bangladesh wants NE India to be a resourceful hinterland solely dependent on trade with Bangladesh, and nothing more.

On another subject of ship technicality, ship designs have changed so much that shallow draft ports like Chittagong can now host ships twice as large. So - do we really need trans-shipment at Indian ports??

An example of such a new-design ship is the 2700 TEU (or roughly 30,000 DWT) 'Chittagong Max' feeder class is the upper limit of the vessel size that can berth at New Mooring Container Port in Chittagong, where draft is around 10m.

These are the specs below (ship class is also called 'Zhejiang 2700' class - referring to the 2700 TEU capacity). See that the draft for this design (8.5m) is unusually shallow for the capacity, which normally ranges around 12 to 14 meters. This is a great design for feeder vessels serving ports like Chittagong and Payra. We should subsidize building of this feeder ship design (see image below) in local yards for local shippers so they can open up services to serve Singapore and Colombo ports from CTG and PAYRA.

When Matarbari comes on line in 2022~2023, it will be able to take in much (three times) larger Mother vessels in the range of 11,000 TEU plus. Because Matarbari port draft is much deeper (15m plus) than either Chittagong or Payra.

An example of such a vessel is the Container Ship 'Dali' (117,000 DWT, 10,000 TEU), with a draft of 13.8m, which Matarbari can easily accommodate. This vessel size is three times larger than the 'Chittagong Max' class (2700 TEU) I described above, which is the maximum CTG or PAYRA can currently accommodate with their shallow draft limits. The transport cost is halved with this larger vessel....

• The need to transfer goods in lighter vessels from deep sea anchorage, hikes port expenditure and has an impact on the costs of imports and on the competitiveness of Bangladesh's exports.
• Directly off loading containers from a vessel this large essentially halves cost and may even allow us to ship goods via container to European ports like Bremerhavn, Antwerp, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
• Bypassing Singapore will lower costs by making off-loading and on-loading containers (and associated costs) unnecessary, increasing our export competitiveness.
• With Bangladesh's annual GDP growth steady at 7~8 percent over the last few years and exports increasing fast, we urgently need at least one deep sea port like Matarbari to drive our export growth.
• Depending on trans-shipment through other ports in the region (like JNPT/Mundra) is a bad idea.
• Developing our own deep sea port is a far better idea which will serve us well in the long run.

 

[namefield_empty]

I dont why they are so butthurt on every Bangladesh -India cooperation lol i wish this doesn't go forward

True, look at the hypocrisy of some of the Bangladeshi posters on PDF. On one hand they want the lopsided trade deficit to end and then rant over anything positive between India-BD cooperation. These primitive thinking individuals then dream about getting a larger access to the Indian markets. The contradictions in their posts are chuckle-worthy.

Regional connectivity is key to our success in coming days

From the perspective of NE India, Myanmar is of greater importance for connectivity to SE Asia than Bangladesh.

 

[Doctor Strange]

That's just the sort of underhanded deals you are getting. Maybe Banglas are too dumb to realize.

You need to stop working with India. It's never win-win.

I think Indian agenda in BD is to never allow a full fledged port of its own. Fully functional ports are sign of sign of sovereignity and prosperity. Though BD has access to sea, but BD will be treated like landlocked Bhutan or Nepal.

 

[Bilal9]

I think Indian agenda in BD is to never allow a full fledged port of its own. Fully functional ports are sign of sign of sovereignity and prosperity. Though BD has access to sea, but BD will be treated like landlocked Bhutan or Nepal.

And the other factor is getting container trans-shipment as well as shipping fees, which is a huge boost and shot-in-the-arm for these ports in Mumbai and in Gujarat, improving their economies.

 

[Goku]

I think Indian agenda in BD is to never allow a full fledged port of its own. Fully functional ports are sign of sign of sovereignity and prosperity. Though BD has access to sea, but BD will be treated like landlocked Bhutan or Nepal.

True absolutely Bangladesh should invest billion dollars in developing their own ports , they can do something like Gwadar port

 

[Mamluk]

True absolutely Bangladesh should invest billion dollars in developing their own ports , they can do something like Gwadar port

They should. You mind your own business.

 

[Goku]

They should. You mind your own business.

You too

 

[Bilal9]

Bangladesh's Container Port Throughput was reported at 2,587,000.000 TEU in Dec 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 2,376,651.000 TEU for Dec 2016.

India's Container Port Throughput was reported at 13,259,000.000 TEU in Dec 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 12,086,010.000 TEU for Dec 2016.

So India has an economy approx. eight times larger, but the throughput numbers belie that claim.

Indian top 19 container ports, looks like Chittagong ranking at 2.5 Million TEU's is higher than all Indian East Coast ports combined. Even considering it only handles feeder vessels. Hmmm.