Cargo traffic falls, cruise sees a route cut as India-Bangladesh trade rift continues

India's ministries have decided to take a "cautious approach" towards shared investments with Bangladesh.

This approach has been used on waterway projects, while the routes for the MV Ganga Vilas -the longest river cruise in the world- have been limited, says The Hindu.

Cargo traffic via Indo–Bangladesh's shared waterways has also seen a dip.

Railway projects and train services remain suspended.

Ganga Vilas may stick to India

According to officials in the know, bookings for Ganga Vilas are open, but only for the Indian leg of the cruise. There is some hesitancy to use Bangladeshi waters.

As part of the 3,200 km-long cruise route, the vessel will move from North of India to the East and then towards the North-East via the National Waterways 1 (Ganga–Bhagirathi–Hooghly), followed by the Indo-Bangla Protocol Route (IBPR), before entering the National Waterways 2 (Brahmaputra river). This means that for a brief period, the cruise will be in Bangaldeshi waters. The end-to-end travel time between Varanasi and Dibrugarh is pegged at 50-51 days.

"Right now, bookings are done till Haldia or on the existing Varanasi to Haldia/Kolkata route. On some routes in the North-East, there is concern around using the IBPR at this moment," an official said.

Eight cruises sail along the Kolkata–Varanasi route.

"Later this year, some call on using the waterways via Bangladesh will be taken," the official in the know said.

"There is no formal suspension of the cruise route. Cargo movement is continuing through the shared route/waters," he added.

Cargo movement

According to a second official in the know, cargo movement has already seen a 20 per cent drop on the IBPR – which covers Bangladeshi ports of call like Mongla, Ashuganj, Khulna, Narayanganj and Sirajganj.

"We still do not know how the new import restrictions by the DGFT – on using only two designated ports for shipment of readymade garments – will play out. We hope there is some pick up in cargo movement on the IBPR route. But, it's too early to say anything," he said.

Earlier this year, India approved a scheme with the provision of 35 per cent incentive to promote use of inland waterways by cargo owners and to establish scheduled services for cargo movement on NW-1 and NW-2 and NW-16 via IBPR. This scheme aims to divert 800 million tonne-km cargo on inland water transport (IWT) mode, which is nearly 17 per cent of the current cargo of 4,700 million tonne-km on NWs. The scheme also aims to start a scheduled waterway cargo service between Kolkata and Varanasi/Pandu using IWAI vessels.

In fact, there are deliberations within the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) on continuing infrastructure works like dredging activities, in these shared waters.

Port accessible

India also has access to terminal operations in Mongla and Chittagong Ports in Bangladesh. But infrastructure investments are yet to pick up there, too. Previously, the Chittagong Port was being looked at as a transshipment hub for Indian goods to the North-Eastern region.

"We need to see how things play out there before investment decisions happen," the official said adding that India – as of now – continues to have access to these ports.