Experimentally, small container ships have started moving directly from Chattogram to Europe. A ship carrying empty containers from an Italian port was docked at the Chittagong port jetty on Thursday (23 December).
The new service has been launched by freight forwarder RIF Line and its subsidiary Calypso Compania de Navigation. The service was launched by Freight Forwarder mainly in collaboration with Italian buyers.
Mohammad Rashed, chairman of Reliance Shipping and Logistics Limited, a local representative of the ship, said that the ship had reached Chittagong port in 16 days from the Italian Civitavecchia Port via the Suez Canal. The ship is scheduled to unload empty containers and return to Italy with containers full of cargo from China. After that, empty containers are to be brought again and containers full of Bangladeshi export goods are to be taken. With this new service, it will be possible to take export products to Europe in less time.
The garments industry will get the most benefit from this initiative. Because 60% of Bangladesh’s export products go to European countries. As a result of this initiative, it will now be possible to deliver goods to foreign buyers in Europe in at least seven to eight days less than before.
