Another direct container shipping route between Chattogram and two European ports will begin next month, and plans are in the works to provide direct services between a few additional European Union locations (EU). Switzerland-based maritime logistics service provider Commodity Supplies AG has taken the initiative to launch the service. Three of its chartered vessels will operate from Barcelona in Spain to Chattogram to the largest European Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
An Italian shipping operator inaugurated direct services between Chattogram and Italy earlier this month, allowing the country’s export cargo to be transported directly to any EU destination without passing through transhipment ports. Reliance Shipping and Logistics, the firm’s Bangladeshi agent, applied to the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) chairman to grant permission for running the direct liner shipping using ships MV Spica, MV Andromeda J and MV Music. Once the permission is granted, they have a plan to launch the service in the third week of May, when one of the three ships will start from Barcelona for Chattogram, he said. The country has long been suffering from a lack of direct shipping services to Europe, its biggest export destination, mainly due to limited access of large ships at Chattogram port.
