Indo-Bangla trial coastal shipping from mid-October

India and Bangladesh are likely to start coastal shipping from mid-October this year, a top Indian shipping official said. An agreement has already been made between the two friendly neighbours to open up sea routes in order to further improve the bilateral trade. Director-General of Shipping Gautam Chatterjee disclosed at a recent seminar that at a recent ministerial meeting in Dhaka, the shipping arrangements were almost finalised and the trial run may start as early as October this year. He said it was also agreed that Bangladesh side would draw a draft agreement and the standard operating procedures on the basis of the decisions reached. Bangladesh officials had asked Indian officials to get IRS to inspect the vessels to meet the vessel standard protocol and according to them there are some 20 vessels from Bangladesh that can meet the Indian standards. In the absence of direct shipping arrangement; India and Bangladesh are now heavily dependent on costly land routes for the $6-billion bilateral trade. According to rough calculation coastal shipping may reduce the costs of transportation by 20 to 40 per cent, when compared to rail or road transportation, ensuring greater competitiveness to exporters on either side. In 2012, both the nations have already identified a number of ports for operating such services. While the Indian ports include Paradip, Visakhapatnam and Haldia, those in Bangladesh will be Chittagong, Mongla and Pangaon,according to bdnews24.com from Agartola (Tripura).