New Delhi, Oct. 5 -- A barge carrying 540 metric tons of methanol left Bogibeel Terminal in Dibrugarh for Dhaka, Bangladesh on Monday. Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) Sarbananda Sonowal flagged off the vessel DLB Patkai, pushed by the tug Kushal Konwar, from Bogibeel. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma joined the ceremony virtually.

According to a release from the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, it is the first cargo shipped from upper Assam to a foreign port since India's independence in 1947, nearly 70 years after the town's river ghat closed.

The methanol, produced by state-owned Assam Petro-Chemicals Ltd. (APCL) at Namrup, is bound for Pangaon Port in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The vessel will travel...