Guwahati, Oct. 5 -- A barge carrying 540 metric tonnes of methanol left the Bogibeel terminal on the Brahmaputra river in Assam's Dibrugarh for Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Monday. This marked the first cargo shipment from Upper Assam to a foreign port since India's independence in 1947, nearly 70 years after the town's river ghat was closed.

Union minister for ports, shipping and waterways Sarbananda Sonowal flagged off the vessel in presence of a large number of dignitaries including several ministers, MPs, MLAs. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma joined the event virtually.

The methanol, produced by state-owned Assam Petro-Chemicals Ltd. (APCL) at Namrup, is bound for Pangaon Port in Dhaka. The vessel will travel about 768 kilometres ...