The ministry of shipping (MoS) has again laid emphasis on transportation of containers to and from seaports using inland waterways to avoid congestion on highways, officials said.
Adequate infrastructure is being developed to ease transportation of goods through river routes, a meeting of the ministry observed recently.
The government built Pangaon Inland Container Terminal (ICT) in Keraniganj, a Dhaka suburb, for shipping goods to and from ports through waterways.
In fiscal year (FY) 2017-18, the terminal handled 28,702 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers, up by nearly 140 per cent from FY '17.
Official sources said six more ICTs are now either under construction or about to start operations.
They are Meghna container terminal, Rupayan terminal, Kumudini terminal, Ananda terminal, Summit Alliance Port ICT and AK Khan ICT.
The officials said waterway can be an alternative route for businesses to avoid the congested highways to carry goods to and from seaports.
A senior ministry official said years ago, the government permitted to build 38 vessels to carry containers from one inland port to another.
Chattogram port collected three container vessels while the private sector collected 11 for carrying goods through inland river routes.
More container vessels are being built-up, he added.
The official said the volume of the country's export and import has been growing significantly every year.
The highways do not have the capacity to handle the increased cargo loads.
Even goods-laden trucks take longer time to reach destinations from seaports.
In that case, hauling goods using the container terminals located around Dhaka can help save time and costs, the official argued.
Exporters Association of Bangladesh president Abdus Salam Murshedy said inland container terminals can largely cater to the growing export-import trade.
"We want quicker transportation of goods to and from seaports and factory gates. We want to use the ICTs if necessary facilities are there," he told the FE.
Mr Murshedy suggested offering some incentive packages to attract businesses to the ICTs.
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