The government is considering allowing more than 300 lighterage vessels for next year to facilitate transportation of the growing export-import cargoes.
To this end, shipping ministry is planning to form a high-powered committee to be headed by the director general of shipping department.
It will comprise representatives of importers, Chattogram Port Authority, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, Bangladesh Cargo Vessel Owners Association and Inland Cargo Transport Owners Association of Khulna division.
The committee will revise the ceiling on building new lighter ships to improve the situation, according to the ministry.
It will be asked to submit a report within 20 days to the ministry, citing the target of building the vessels for 2019.
Sources said the government usually gives the green light to 220 designs for building new lighterage vessels per year.
The decision of increasing the number of such vessels has been made to overcome the supply-demand mismatch and also reduce burden on rail and road, a ministry official said.
Currently, the country has been facing an acute shortage of lighterage vessels, thus hampering transportation of goods, he added.
To improve the situation, the ministry is likely to revise the ceiling on building new ships.
The latest move was made to shore up the country's shipping trade and the water transport sector.
Some 500 more lighterage vessels are badly needed to ferry imported goods from the country's premier port.
The country requires 586 such vessels every year, according to the shipping department.
When contacted, shipping secretary Md Abdus Samad said, "We want to rationalise the ceiling of the number of lighterage vessels as per the domestic need for such vessels."
Meanwhile, a senior official of shipping department said, "There is a huge demand for lighter ships in the country."
"A good number of ships are required only to transport fertiliser and food items. So, we want to increase the number of the vessels," he added.
The official said, "Multiple rivers are now being dredged to increase navigability. We want to use the waterway for transportation of the bulk of goods."
"Transportation of goods is getting hampered due to shortage of lighter ships," he told the FE.
A process is right under way to balance the demand and supply of lighterage ships, he added.
Presently, there are 2,550 lighterage ships operating on different routes.
Of them, 1,000 are being operated under Water Transport Cell and 500 under private initiative, 100 ships are chartered by private companies.
Meanwhile, 400 ships carry goods from Mongla port, 300 run on Bangladesh-India protocol route and 150 run on river routes in Sylhet region.
Some 350 lighter ships would be required for Payra port once it starts full-scale operation.
According to shipping department, about 65 million tonnes of goods are cleared from Chattogram port annually.
As the export-import trade is growing in volume, 500 more lighterage ships are needed for Chattogram port.
Besides, some 40 lighter ships would be required to transport fuel for coal-fired power stations.
Lighter ships are also needed for transporting over 1.4 million tonnes of coal to Barapukuria Coal Power Plant.
Some 198 and 236 lighter vessels were registered with the authorities concerned in 2017 and 2018 respectively, according to shipping ministry.
The government approved 129 and 344 designs for new ships in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
Some 91 and 187 vessels are being built as per the designs.
Besides, some 362 applications seeking approval for designs of lighterage ships have remained pending with the authorities until October 2018.
Presently, the country has about 9,725 ships of different types, according to the shipping department.
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