Unfit ships set to delay Indo-Bangla shipping

Launch of the coastal shipping service between Bangladesh and India may be delayed due to the lack of vessels fit for plying their coasts.
The Department of Shipping (DoS) has set a target to launch the long-awaited service by October this year. But it is now only hopeful of a trial run due to the lack of IRS Class vessels.
"We have received a list of 18 vessels from the Bangladesh Coastal Ship Owners Association (COAB), but very few of them may meet the requirements of the Indian Register of Shipping," DoS director general Zakiur Rahman Bhuiyan told the FE.
He said the department had been trying to start at least a trial-run of the service by next month, if possible, by using the vessels brought for the Pangaon-Chittagong route.
Officials from the Indian Register of Shipping will visit Bangladesh soon to check the standard of the 18 vessels which the COAB listed as fit for the coastal shipping service.
Mr Bhuiyan said the trial-run of the service would start, even if one or two vessels are found fit for the service.
"I will send a letter soon to the Pangaon ICT inquiring if its three vessels can be used for the coastal shipping service. If those meet the requirements, we will use the vessels for the service," Mr Bhuiyan said.
Sources said the DoS chief also discussed with the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) seeking to know whether the BSC could be engaged in the Bangladesh-India coastal shipping trade.
The BSC managing director set some conditions for its involvement in the trade.
According to an official, most of the Bangladeshi coastal vessels have no insurance coverage from the P&I Club or registration from any classification society. "As a result, those won't be allowed to ply India-Bangladesh coasts, unless the Indian government relaxes the conditions," the official added.
Sources said the government gave permission to 32 private companies to import or build vessels in September 2011. But very little progress had so far been achieved in it. None of the private companies could build or import any vessel so far.
COAB executive member Kazi Shafiqul Islam told the FE on Wednesday very few of the Bangladeshi vessels had the standard required for plying the coasts.
"We need higher standard ships to start the coastal shipping service successfully," he said. He expressed hope that more ships would be brought and the existing ones would be modified to meet the necessary standard, once the service is launched.
The coastal shipping service is considered as the low-cost and easiest way of carrying goods between the two countries.
According to a study of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), once the coastal ships start plying, the trade imbalance between the two countries will come down by US$1.0 billion.
The coastal shipping service will cover three Bangladeshi and four Indian ports. The three Bangladeshi ports are: Chittagong, Mongla and the newly-built Payra port. The Indian ports are: Paradip in Orissa, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Haldia in Paschimbanga and Kakinada port near Chennai.
Presently, the shipments between the two countries are being made via a third port like that in Singapore or Colombo in the absence of a direct coastal shipping service.
Bangladesh has nearly 2,000 non-classified or M-Class ships, which are unfit to call at international ports.
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