Direct Pak-BD shipping route marks rebuilding ties

DHAKA: The first cargo ship in decades to sail directly from Pakistan to Bangladesh successfully unloaded its containers, port officials told AFP Sunday, as both sides seek to rebuild ties after decades of frosty relations.

The two countries, once one nation, split in 1971 after a brutal war, with Bangladesh then drawing closer to Pakistan´s rival India.

But its ties with New Delhi have frayed after a student-led revolution in August toppled Bangladesh’s autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India by helicopter.

The 182-metre (597-foot) long container ship — the Panama-flagged Yuan Xiang Fa Zhan — had sailed from Karachi to Bangladesh’s Chittagong.

Top Chittagong port official Omar Faruq confirmed to AFP on Sunday that the ship had unloaded its cargo on November 11 before departing.

Pakistan’s envoy to Dhaka, Syed Ahmed Maroof, sparked widespread discussion on social media in Bangladesh when he said after the docking that the direct shipping route was “a major step” in boosting trade across the region. The route will “promote new opportunities for businesses on both sides”, Maroof wrote on Facebook.

Chittagong port authorities said the ship brought goods from Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, including raw materials for Bangladesh’s key garment industry and basic foodstuffs. In September, Bangladesh eased import restrictions on Pakistani goods, which previously required a mandatory physical inspection on arrival which resulted in long delays.

Pakistani goods previously had to be off-loaded onto feeder vessels — usually in Sri Lanka, Malaysia or Singapore — before travelling to Bangladesh.