After a long closure, tourist ship service on the Teknaf-Saint Martin's island route will resume on November 16 on trial basis, said officials on Sunday. Additional district magistrate Md Abu Sufiyan said after safe return of the trial run on Tuesday, a decision will be made on continuing the service on this route. AKM Anwar Hossain, officer of Cox’s Bazar Keari Tours and Travels, said they have already received the release paper from the district commissioner, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and Department of Shipping. “If everything works out fine, ship service will operate again for tourists travelling to Saint Martin. Already a huge number of tourists have started pre-booking the tickets," he said. Read: Tourist ship operations suspended on Teknaf-Saint Martin's Island route “Due to ship service remaining suspended our business has gone down. We’ve already decorated the hotels to start welcoming tourists again after getting the good news of ship service getting back to normal,” said Abdul Malek, owner of Sea Probal Hotel at Saint Martin’s Island. Saint Martin’s UP member Habibur Rahman said the environment became lively at the news of trial ship service but the broken jetty has not been mended yet properly. “The concern of risk remains if more than one ship anchors at the jetty at once as it is not fully prepared,” he said. Due to unfavorable weather and inoperable jetty, ship services to Saint Martin’s Island have remained suspended for a long time. The decision to start the service on a trial basis came following the visit of a district administrative team a few days ago.

Tourist ship operations to Saint Martin's Island from Saint Martin's jetty in Cox's Bazaar have been suspended for carrying out repairs. The jetty in Saint Martin's sustained severe structural damage due to Cyclone Yaas that made landfall in Bangladesh and eastern India in May this year. The local administration on Monday took the decision of suspending tourist ship operations from Saint Martin's jetty, considering the safety of the tourists. Also read: Cyclone Yaas: Unusual tides destroy Saint Martin's jetty