A ship carrying readymade garments from Bangladesh is starting its journey today (Saturday) for Europe -- the second direct freight of Bangladeshi cargo that experts described as a landmark in the apparel exports.
Container ship AST Malta will leave Chittagong port for Italy today carrying 66 boxes and around 130 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of export containers.
Officials said direct shipment will help reduce the cost and lead time of Bangladeshi apparels exported to the European market.
The direct freight began after the government took an initiative to boost exports, especially readymade garments, to Europe, the country's biggest apparel destination.
Chittagong Port Authority Secretary Md Omar Farooq told the Bangladesh Post container ship Songa Cheetah that made the maiden voyage with Bangladesh cargo reached Italy late last month.
Songa Cheetah left Chittagong for Italy’s Port of Ravenna Porto di Ravenna (The Port of Ravenna) on February 7 carrying around 1,100 TEUs of cargo.
AST Malta arrived at the Chittagong Port on Friday.
Farooq said the port authorities have welcomed the launch of the direct freight service to Italy as they consider the development a milestone for the country's economy.
“This will reduce the cost of export goods by 40 percent and save time. The Chittagong Port Authority will extend all possible cooperation to continue this service,” he added.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) vice-president Rakibul Alam Chowdhury said the Bangladesh-Italy direct container shipment has created huge potential for boosting exports.
He said exporters faced uncertainty on different occasions in shipping their products to the customers within the stipulated time.
“There remains a risk of missing the mother vessel even if the feeder vessels are late by one day to reach the trans-shipment port. In many cases, ships leave the Chittagong port without taking the goods to catch the mother vessel,” he mentioned.
Chittagong Port Authority said AST Malta and Songa Cheetah, with the capacity of 1,200 TEUs each, will transport cargo from Chittagong once in every 25 days. The direct voyage will take only 16 days to reach Italy compared to 40 days now.
An Italian shipping company is conducting the direct freight service with its two small-sized container vessels -- Songa Cheetah and AST Malta.
The country has long been suffering from a lack of direct shipping services to Europe mainly due to limited access of large ships to the Chittagong port.
Currently export containers are at first transported on small-sized feeder vessels to four transhipment ports -- Colombo, Singapore, Tanjung Pelepas and Port Klang of Malaysia -- and some ports in China.
Then containers are loaded to bigger mother vessels connecting to Europe, the US and African destinations.
