First container ship from India reaches Bangladesh

The first container ship from India has arrived in Bangladesh's Panagon river port here under the Coastal Shipping Agreement signed in 2015, allowing direct cargo vessel movement between the two countries. The ship, 'Shonartori Nou Kalyan-1' reached the Pangaon Inland Container Terminal at Keraniganj with 65 containers on board, bdnews24.com reported.

At an event to mark the arrival of the ship, Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said that cargo ships will now reach and depart from Pangaon to India every 15 days. He said there was progress in the field of river transport.

With this, the Coastal Shipping Agreement signed in 2015, comes into effect, paving way for direct cargo vessel movement between the two neighbouring countries. Bangladesh Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, Indian envoy to Dhaka Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina's advisor Salman F Rahman also attended the ceremony.

The link between the Pangaon terminal and India will save time and money, said Minister Khan. "The shipping ministry is in the process to procure 36 more ships to boost the use of this network," he said. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh in 2015, the two countries signed the Coastal Shipping Agreement.

Meanwhile, boosted by the success of its solution business in the retail segment in the domestic market, steel major Tata Steel is now exploring possibility of entering overseas markets like Bangladesh and Myanmar with retail branded steel solution products.

"We have a great success in developing brands and distribution network in B2C markets in India. Bangladesh and Myanmar are

the two B2C markets which have similar profile as India. We are seeing the opportunity there in the B2C markets to build the brand and distribution network," Tata Steel MD (India and South East Asia) T V Narendran said at Kolkata on Saturday.

Tata Steel terms consumer products as B2C and has marketed these steel products similar to FMCG strategy. Narendran however, did not elaborate further on the overseas foray.