Double blow leaves launch business in dire straits
Business is on a downward spiral mainly because of the sudden rise in diesel prices, says launch owners
Passenger launch services from the capital's Sadarghat to the country's southern region have been reeling from two heavy and consecutive blows – the Padma Bridge opening and a massive hike in fuel prices.
According to sector insiders, the diesel price hike hit the launch business much harder than the bridge, triggering huge losses in launch operations and forcing many owners to halt operations entirely and have their vessels scrapped.
"So far, around eight small and big launches are being scrapped and sold in metal pieces at low prices. Each of these launches has run for around 15 to 20 years even though the average lifespan of a launch is 40 years," said Prince Awlad, joint convener of Bangladesh Inland Water Passenger Carrier Association (BIWPCA).
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"These launches have become outdated and have been making the tally of loss bigger for the owners. Passengers prefer new and luxurious vessels for travelling nowadays," he said.
Earlier, we used to sell old and dilapidated launches to small entrepreneurs who conducted services on less developed routes, but after the oil price hike, our business became tough to maintain. Now no one wants to buy these launches," Prince Awlad, who is also owner of Prince Awlad Navigation, said, adding that there is no other option except scrapping old vessels and selling them as metal pieces. "One of my launches is also being scrapped", he said.
According to most launch owners, business is on a downward spiral mainly because of the sudden rise in diesel prices.
"The bridge just cut our income by 10-25%, reducingprofit, but the skyrocketing fuel price increased our operational costs by around 50%, resulting in huge loss," said SaidurRahamanRintu, senior vice-president of BIWPCA and the owner of Sundarban Navigation.
Earlier, around 200 launches had provided services on 40 differentroutes in the southern region from Sadarghat. With business going for a downturn, services on many routes have stopped.
Shahidul Islam, chairman of Parabat Navigation, said, "No one is buying launches now as the market has become smaller. Some routes, including Naria, Shariatpur, Gournadi and Hularhat, have been closed down after the opening of the Padma Bridge. Facing continuous losses, owners were forced to stop operations of some long-haul launches on other routes --- of Barishal, Barguna, Bhola, Galachipa and Torki."
"The diesel price hike led us into increasing the fares but the number of passengers decreased drastically following the move. We were counting losses of up to Tk3.5 lakh daily with hardly 50% of our expected passengers. Owners have no choice but to scrap relatively old launches," he said, adding that the launches of several companies, including Prince Awlad, Rajdhani, Shakil, and Saudia are now being scrapped.
If these vessels are not scrapped right now and left unused, they will be permanently damaged, gathering dust and rust, he said.
"I am also planning to scrap two of my launches in the next two to three months. Many others are also planning to do the same," added ShahidulIslam, who is also secretary general of Launch Owners' Association of Bangladesh, said.
Apart from the old ones, a launch of Manami Group which was in the making is also being scrapped.
Executive Director of Manami Group Rakib Hassan Sohel said, "The structure of the vessel has been built with metal angles. But we did not want to make more investments and proceed further under the current business conditions."
Wrong govt policy and launch owners' improvidence
According to the owners, the government's indifference to this sector was responsible for the rundown of the 75-year-old launch business.
"In the last 40 years, the government has spent a huge amount of money on road development but not even 1% of it on the development of water transport. Now there is also a navigability crisis in the rivers due to lack of proper dredging," said Saidur Rahman Rintu.
"It takes hours to travel only a three-kilometre stretch of road from Gulistan to Sadarghat launch terminal, making passengers lose interest in launch travelling. Besides, we have repeatedly opposed imposing ghat tickets for passengers. We even proposed to the government that we will pay the ghat charges of the passengers but the proposal was ignored by the authorities," he said.
It is because of the ghat tickets that passengers have to stand in long queues, adding more woes to their travel experience. And the last blow from the government was the whimsical diesel price hike, SaidurRahman said.
The launch owner also admitted to the lack of foresight among owners, saying that they failed to take the right decisions when the launch business was vibrant.
"There is no doubt the owners had a lack of foresight. We did not think about the sustainability of this sector. We failed to develop river tourism in the southern districts," Saidur added.
Is there any hope of revival?
Amid this dire situation, two new luxury launches are set to join the southern waterway services. Sundarban-16 and Shuvoraj-9 will start their journey on the Dhaka-Barishal route within two months.
"The making of these state-of-the-art launches started five years ago and was expected to be brought into service in 2020. But construction work stopped due to the pandemic. It took two more years to complete the manufacturing process. Although the situation is bad, we have to bring the launches into service," said Saidur Rahman Rintu, owner of Sundarban Navigation.
"We have not given up hope. These launches will provide the most comfortable and safe journey for passengers. Besides, low-income people can also travel on this vessel for just Tk350. No other transport can offer such low-cost travel," he added.
Launch owners have also figured out a way to reduce losses to some extent by introducing a rotation system. On a rotation basis, six launches, three from each end, ply the Dhaka-Barisal route daily.
President of Bangladesh NoujanSramik Federation Shah Alam said around 2 lakh workers are working in the sector and almost all of them are now going through a financial crisis and agitation.
"As such, we have placed a 10-point-demand to the government, including taking necessary steps to keep the sector running. If the government remains indifferent to this, then we will go for a stern movement", he warned.
