Dibrugarh, Oct. 5 -- A barge carrying 540 metric tons of methanol left Bogibeel Terminal in Dibrugarh for Dhaka, Bangladesh, marking the first cargo shipment from upper Assam to a foreign port since India's independence in 1947.
Union Minister for Ports, Shipping & Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal flagged off the DLB Patkai, pushed by tug Kushal Konwar, while Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma joined 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 along National Waterway-2 on the Brahmaputra to the Indo-Bangladesh border before continuing on the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route.
The voyage is being seen as a test of the Brahmaputra's potential as a commercially viable freight corridor linking the Northeast with overseas markets. Regular methanol shipments are planned, with the movement enabled by customs and immigration complexes recently established at Bogibeel and Dhubri.
Sarma called it a proud day for Assam, saying the state's product made in Namrup was travelling to an international market on Assam's own river.
Dibrugarh's river trade declined after Partition in 1947 and a 1950 earthquake altered the riverbed. Regular bookings stopped in 1954 and the ghat closed on October 15, 1956. The 1965 India-Pakistan war suspended cross-border river trade, while India and Bangladesh signed a river trade protocol in 1972.
The 891-kilometre Brahmaputra stretch from Sadiya to Dhubri was declared National Waterway-2 in 1988, with regular cargo services beginning in December 2017. Tata Steel barges reached Pandu through Bangladesh in February 2022, followed by MV Ganga Vilas in 2023.
According to MoPSW, national waterways cargo rose from 18 million metric tons in 2013-14 to 218 million metric tons in 2025-26. More than 68 billion rupees is being invested in Northeast waterways.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.