A ship carrying material for Bangabandhu Rail Bridge arrived at Mongla Port, authorities said on Saturday. The Panama flag carrier, ‘MV Ever Champion’, carrying 1411 metric tonnes of material for the bridge arrived at the No. 8 jetty of the port around 11 am. Earlier, on March 7, another ship carrying material for Bangabandhu Rail Bridge arrived at Mongla Port from Vietnam. Shawkat Ali, operation manager of local shipping agent Haque and Sons Limited, said the ship anchored at Mongla Port in the morning and the work to unload the goods is underway. The materials will be sent to the Bangabandhu Bridge Railway Authority within two days. It is the 6th shipment carrying material for Bangabandhu Rail Bridge to arrive at the port. On March 5, a ship named ‘Hidong-9’ carrying 1556 metric tonnes of machineries of the bridge arrived at Mongla port. Also read: Group demands govt scrap Jamuna river ‘narrowing’ project On November 29 2020, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of a 4.8km double-line dual-gauge Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge aimed at boosting rail communication between the capital and western zones of Bangladesh Railway. The main bridge will be constructed in two phases. Two separate agreements have already been signed with Obayashi-TOA-JFE, Japan and IHI-SMCC JV, Japan for eastern and western parts of civil works respectively.  

Three foreign ships,including a Russian flag carrier, importing machinery and goods for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and Bangabandhu Rail Bridge have arrived at Mongla port. The unloading of the consignments from the ships has already started. The Panama flag carrier, MV QI XIA, carrying goods weighing 3,352 metric tonnes for the Bangabandhu Rail Bridge, docked at the port’s jetty-7 on Sunday morning, the Mongla Port Authority said. Another Panama flag carrier, LIBERTY HARVEST, carrying machinery weighing 4,716 metric tonnes for Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, docked at the port’s jetty-7 at the same time. The Russian flag carrier, MV KAMILLA, carrying goods weighing 3,633 metric tonnes for the power plant, docked at the port’s jetty-9 at noon. Md Kamruzzaman, shipping agent for the Liberty Harvest, said it will take four days to unload the consignment for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant. Also read: Fourth Russian shipment for Rooppur arrives at Mongla Port After unloading, the machinery from the ship will be taken by sea to Rooppur Power Plant, he added. A total of 14,475 packages weighing 4,716 metric tons of power plant machinery were transported by this ship. Sadhan Kumar Chakrabarty, local shipping agent of MV Kamilla, said that the ship transported a total of 5,506 packages of goods for the power plant. Most of the goods for the country's ongoing megaprojects are being imported through this port on a priority basis. Modern methods of unloading goods, a skilled workforce, and reduced time all contributed to the port's increased activity.  

The first shipment of goods for the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge construction work has arrived from Vietnam, officials said on Saturday.The South Korean flag carrier, MV Woohyun Hope, carrying 2,356 MT of machineries for the Railway Bridge, docked at the port’s jetty-7 on Saturday afternoon, Sheikh Fakar Uddin, harbour master of Mongla port told UNB.The ship left Vietnam's Hai Phong port on July 25 for Bangladesh."Unloading of goods from the ship will start tonight", said harbour master Sheikh Fakar. Read: Vannamei Shrimp pilot project shows commercial potential

Railways Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujan on Friday said direct train service on Dhaka-Siliguri route will begin in June after installation of the Chilahati-Haldibari rail track.