The voyage is being seen as a test of the Brahmaputra’s potential to become a viable freight corridor connecting India’s Northeast with overseas markets.
A barge carrying 540 metric tons of methanol left Bogibeel Terminal in Dibrugarh for Dhaka, Bangladesh on Monday, marking the first international cargo shipment from upper Assam since India’s independence in 1947. Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal flagged off the vessel DLB Patkai, pushed by the tug Kushal Konwar, while Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma joined virtually.
The methanol, produced by Assam Petro‑Chemicals Ltd at Namrup, is bound for Pangaon Port in Dhaka. The vessel will travel 768 km down National Waterway (NW)‑2 on the River Brahmaputra to the Indo‑Bangladesh border, then continue along the Indo‑Bangladesh Protocol Route, covering a total distance of 1,300 km to Narayanganj, Dhaka.
The voyage is being observed as a test of whether the Brahmaputra can serve as a commercially viable freight corridor linking India’s Northeast to overseas markets. Regular methanol shipments to Bangladesh are planned, enabled by new customs and immigration complexes at Bogibeel and Dhubri.
Sonowal called the moment historic. “Our grandparents grew up hearing the steamer whistle at Dibrugarh Ghat. For 70 years, that whistle fell silent. Today, a ship leaves Dibrugarh for the world once again. The river never failed us. What it lacked for decades was the will to revive it.”
Chief Minister Sarma added, “Assam’s own product, made in Namrup, is now travelling to an international market on Assam’s own river. The Northeast is no longer a frontier. It is India’s gateway to the East.”
River Trade Revival
Dibrugarh was once among the busiest river ports in eastern India. Steamers reached the town from Calcutta (Kolkata) by 1856, and by 1913 daily services carried tea, timber and passengers upriver.
Partition in 1947 cut the route, a 1950 earthquake disturbed the riverbed, and the ghat closed in 1956 as tea shipments shifted to rail. Cross‑border river trade was suspended in 1965, and though India and Bangladesh signed a river trade protocol in 1972, regular cargo services on NW‑2 began only in 2017.
Sonowal said the Bogibeel terminal, customs and immigration facilities, and fixed‑schedule cargo services under the Jalvahak programme are giving Dibrugarh modern infrastructure while reinstating its heritage. “Today, as cargo leaves Dibrugarh for a foreign port once again, the town’s proud past and its promising future meet on the same river,” he said.
Activity on the route has grown steadily. Tata Steel barges reached Pandu through Bangladesh in 2022, and the river cruise ship MV Ganga Vilas sailed from Varanasi to Dibrugarh in 2023. The Bogibeel passenger and cargo terminal opened in February 2024, and Jalvahak incentives were launched later that year.
According to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, cargo on India’s national waterways rose from 18 million metric tons (MMT) in FY2013‑14 to 218 MMT in FY2025‑26. More than ₹68 billion is being invested in waterways across the Northeast, including development of NW‑2, a ship repair facility at Pandu and last‑mile connectivity to Pandu Port. Sonowal noted, “Every tonne we move on the river means less fuel burnt and fewer trucks on the highway.”
The voyage involved the Inland Waterways Authority of India, Assam Petro‑Chemicals, Cochin Bunkers Pvt. Ltd. and partners in Bangladesh, emphasising the collaborative effort to re‑establish the Brahmaputra as a regional artery of trade.