Two reasons. Karachi is still 300km shorter distance wise from Kathmandu via Hotan than Kathmandu to Tianjin (
https://www.freemaptools.com/measure-distance.htm) and the whole point of CPEC is to integrate western China's (under which Nepal falls right under) trade via Arabian Sea ports. The second point is that Karachi is far closer to major European export destinations than Eastern China. Tianjin port to Rotterdam port is 11184 nautical miles. Karachi to Rotterdam is 6230 nautical miles (
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/voyage-planner). Half the distance as the straits of Malacca are avoided completely. It is still far from feasible for Nepal and the most logical ports are Indian or Bangladeshi ports, but if Nepal does want to reduce reliance on India then Karachi or sure Tianjin are the way to go. Better choice would still be investment in their air freight infrastructure although again less cost effective than Indian or Bangladeshi ports. However ultimately any Nepali-Bangladeshi trade can not take place without taking India into the equation. That is the harsh reality.
I don't think Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs takes cues from short term developments like temporary disagreements between Bangladesh and India. Bangladesh is going up in a steep trajectory - no matter how people like it or dislike it. It is fact. So Indians will not stop Bangladeshi road connectivity to Nepal, be it for cargo or passenger transport. In fact they came up with the idea (BBIN). Enhanced connectivity around Bangladesh helps India's strategic goals of connecting their undeveloped North-Eastern states and increasing development using trade and commerce.
Ports in Bangladesh will be able to handle container traffic from Nepal too in the coming years as they are (and will be) better equipped than competing container ports at Kolkata and Haldia (because of the volume of container traffic we already handle), though for now Kolkata has excess capacity. Nepal is eager to take advantage of Bangladeshi ports as they want to reduce their traditional dependency from India and reduce time by utilizing our increased efficiency at the ports.
There are four rather large ports in Bangladesh (not counting smaller inland riverine container ports with two present and two deep sea ports being built).
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Chittagong handled 2.56 Million TEUs, which is way beyond capacity and design limits (see article below).
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Mongla's container capacity is minuscule at about a 100,000 TEU now (mainly handles bulk cargo like cement and foodgrain) but this will change with Padma Bridge road/rail link (178 Km to Dhaka compared to 244 km between DAC-CTG). Container Handling Equipment has been purchased and port infra is already in place for about initial volume of 200,000 TEU by the time Padma bridge rail link from Dhaka is operational (2020). Mongla can take up the slack from CTG before Payra comes on line.
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Payra will have coal handling for in-port power generation projects but also significant container handling capacity with a rail link from Dhaka (2 Million TEU by 2024, see article below for container ship handling and volume details).
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Matarbari is in Southern Bangladesh near Cox's Bazaar will also by 2023 have a large container port and being a deep sea port (deeper than about 18 meters can handle Neo-Panamax class container carriers which handle about 9000 TEU's each).
Since both Matarbari and Payra will handle much larger Panamax and larger container ships, container handling will get a much larger boost locally.
More information from some articles,
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Payra to offer Bangladesh shippers new port option
Syful Islam, Bangladesh Special Correspondent | Jun 26, 2017 10:38AM EDT
Chittagong handled nearly 700,000 more TEU than it was designed for in 2016.
Bangladesh is set to start construction of a third seaport at Payra, in Patuakhali district, opening another avenue for shippers in Dhaka and the south-central region of the country to avoid other
congested ports.
The port will be connected to Dhaka and elsewhere through railways, roadways, and
inland waterways. The new port will be 309 kilometers (192 miles) from Dhaka by road, slightly closer than the 329 kilometers between Dhaka and Chittagong, a route that is often congested with trucks, delaying shipments for hours. Mongla, Bangladesh’s second port and currently
undergoing expansion, is 283 kilometers from Dhaka.
British company DP Rail in December signed a memorandum of understanding to build a 240-kilometer rail line between Dhaka and Payra at a cost of Tk.600 billion ($7.3 billion). Officials have said work will start soon.
Paira port will compete with Chittagong to the east and Mongla to the west. Because of its location and congestion at the Chittagong and Mongla ports, Payra will be positioned to compete with both for container cargo.
The first activity taking place at Payra Port will be a $600 million dredging project by Belgium’s Jan De Nul to bring draft at the site to nine meters by 2018, at which point multipurpose and bulk terminals will begin operations, said Payra Port Authority member Saidur Rahman.
Payra is striving for a depth of 16 meters by 2023 when the port is fully operational, said Rahman. Chittagong currently has a draft of 9.2 meters, and Mongla has a depth of 7.5 meters but is dredging to 10 meters.
A major advantage for Payra will be its ability to handle ships larger than Chittagong, as it will be able to handle 2,800-TEU vessels compared with 1,100-TEU ships at Chittagong, Rahman said.
The cost of a full-fledged port at Payra could come to $20 billion, according to British consultancy company HR Wallingford, which conducted a feasibility study on the Payra project. Of that $20 billion, $3.5 billion would go to dredging, with the remainder going toward port terminals and equipment as well as hinterland connectivity such as roads and railways.
Payra has been put on a fast track by the government and has five components that rely on foreign direct investment. Several companies have already expressed interest in providing funding, and four companies have been shortlisted for some of the projects, Rahman told JOC.com. Those five components are capital and maintenance dredging of the main channel of the port, two container terminals, a dry bulk terminal, and a 200-megawatt coal-fired power plant in the port area.
Even without the heavy congestion at Chittagong and elsewhere, Bangladesh would need more port capacity, as the country’s foreign trade continues to grow. Traffic through Chittagong rose 16 percent year over year last year to 2.3 million TEU although its annual capacity is 1.7 million TEU, exacerbating already
serious congestion.
“But the port’s capacity is not increasing in the same pace. So, Payra port having capacity to handle big-sized vessels will definitely get huge traffic,” Rahman said.
IHS Markit expects that merchandise exports from Bangladesh will rise 9.5 percent year over year this year. Much of that growth will be driven by ready-made garments, which make up 80 percent of all exports from the country, and will come even as the local currency, the taka, appreciates against the dollar this year.
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Matarbari port to host Panamax ships by July 2023
Bangladesh’s top export item is the readymade garment, whose main importers are the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Container ships featuring 9,000 TEU will start calling at Bangladesh’s first deep-sea port at Matarbari by July 2023, the target date for completion of the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s (JICA) program to handle increasing trade volumes.
JICA, who will fund construction, said the mega-port will “ease ship congestion at
Chittagong seaport,” which is deep enough to handle, at best, 1,200 TEU vessels.
The deepsea port’s multi-purpose terminal will be ready for container shipping vessels by November 2022, and a coal terminal will be constructed by August 2022.
The port will have a 18-meter draft, which shippers said is required to handle Bangladesh’s growing trading sector. With the current infrastructure, only feeder vessels can ferry goods to and from the port.
“We will start a loan negotiation with JICA soon. They are very positive about the Matarbari deep-sea port with their study findings,” Shipping Secretary Abdus Samad told JOC.com.
A JICA appraisal recently updated government officials, and one finding indicated that since big vessels will be able to call at the deepsea port, it will help reduce congestion at Bangladesh’s prime seaport at Chittagong.
Asked whether other countries will also use the port, Samad said, “For connectivity and trade purpose any country will be able to use the port.”
Bangladesh’s top export item is the readymade garment, whose main importers are the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Spain. In addition, major exporters to Bangladesh are
China,
India, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. The deepsea port is designed to serve these markets.
In the first phase of construction, the container terminal will be built on 18 hectares, have a 460-meter berth, be able to accommodate 9,000 TEU vessels, and have an annual capacity of 600,000 to 1.1 million TEU.
Later, the container terminal will be expanded, comprise 70 hectares, have a 1,850-meter berth, and have a 2.8-million-tonne capacity.
JICA said the multi-purpose terminal will be built on 17 hectares, have a 300-meter berth, and be able to accommodate vessels with up to 70,000 dwt. Its annual capacity will be 2.25 million tonnes.
In addition, the port will have a large coal terminal to handle the enormous volume of coal the country requires, as Bangladesh is constructing scores of coal-fired power plants to meet the country’s growing energy needs.
The deepsea port’s main navigational channel will be 350 meters wide.
Currently, vessels with less than a 9-meter draft can call at the country’s two seaports at Chittagong and
Mongla.
The prime seaport Chittagong is exceeding its 1.7-million-TEU design capacity. In 2017, it registered 9.36 percent container growth, handling 2.56 million TEU, compared with 17 percent growth to 2.34 million TEU in 2016.
Furthermore, the port experienced prolonged congestion for almost half of 2017, from April to Nov. 1. Vessels had to wait in the port’s outer anchorage more than 10 days to get berthing, which resulted in longer stays and additional charges to shippers. As one might sense, shippers became very unhappy about the delays in getting goods loaded and unloaded in time, and engaged in an extended protest, demanding that a deepsea port be built in Bangladesh to cut lead time.
Meanwhile, to cope with the congestion problem short term, Chittagong port’s capacity has been expanded substantially via the construction several terminals and yards.
Exporters Association of Bangladesh president Abdus Salam Murshedy told the JOC.com a deepsea port is the key demand in the nation, given substantial export and import growth.
“For imports the deepsea port will definitely be helpful while for exports it’s a vital necessity,” he said.
Murshedy, one of the top garment exporters, added, “We remain behind by 10 to 15 days compared to our competitors since our goods are transported by feeder vessels from Chittagong. If a deepsea port is built we will be able to save the time needed for transship in Colombo or Singapore.”
“We will make a big gain if a deepsea port is built in our water area. That’s because right now price is not the only factor, time is also a big factor. Since we export seasonal goods, we need to send those as early as possible,” Murshedy said. “No one will buy Christmas items if you send those after the occasion, due to congestion at ports or delay for other reasons.”
Murshedy said in the next five years Bangladesh’s exports sector will become a $60 billion industry. In addition, imports will also increase manifold, since a number of mega-projects are under construction and in the plan.
“Handling such a big volume of goods won’t be possible without large port infrastructure development,” Murshedy added.
In fiscal year 2016 to 2017, Bangladesh’s imports totaled $43.49 billion and exports, $34.02 billion. More than 90 percent of the nation’s export-import goods are handled by seaports.
, we're compete to replace you. The day China rail connect to Nepal also be the day of ending India's influence. China market it big enough to sustain Nepal economy and they will not need India.
