Dibrugarh resumes river trade to Bangladesh in first voyage since 1947

An international cargo vessel has sailed from eastern Assam for the first time since Indian independence in 1947, carrying industrial methanol from Dibrugarh down the Brahmaputra River to Bangladesh.

The barge DLB Patkai, propelled by the tug Kushal Konwar, departed the Bogibeel terminal on Monday carrying 540 metric tonnes of methanol produced by state-owned Assam Petrochemicals Limited at Namrup. Its destination is Pangaon port in Narayanganj, just outside Dhaka.

The journey covers roughly 1,300 kilometres in total. The vessel will travel about 768 kilometres along National Waterway 2 on the Brahmaputra before crossing into Bangladesh at Dhubri, then follow the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route south to Dhaka.

Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal flagged off the shipment, with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma attending virtually.

"Our grandparents grew up hearing the steamer whistle at Dibrugarh ghat. For 70 years, that whistle fell silent, and the ships stopped coming," Sonowal said at the terminal. "A cargo vessel has left Dibrugarh for the world once again. The river never failed us, but the will to revive the route was lacking for decades."

Why Dibrugarh went silent

Until the middle of the twentieth century, Dibrugarh was one of eastern India's primary river trading hubs. Scheduled government steamers from Calcutta reached the town by 1856, and by 1913 daily vessels were hauling tea, timber, and passengers down the Brahmaputra.

Partition in 1947 broke that link by placing the river route through East Pakistan. A severe earthquake in 1950 disturbed the riverbed around Dibrugarh, making navigation treacherous. Regular cargo bookings ceased in 1954, and the river ghat finally shut on 15 October 1956 as trade shifted onto the railways. Cross-border commercial traffic on the river ended entirely during the 1965 India-Pakistan war.

Although India and Bangladesh signed a river trade protocol in 1972, and the Brahmaputra from Sadiya to Dhubri became National Waterway 2 in 1988, upper Assam remained cut off from international river commerce for decades. Western ports like Pandu in Guwahati and Dhubri handled occasional traffic, but Dibrugarh did not.

What made the voyage possible

Inland Waterways Authority of India officials said the voyage became feasible only after dedicated customs and immigration facilities opened at Bogibeel and Dhubri. Infrastructure at Bogibeel itself was upgraded when a new passenger and cargo terminal opened in February 2024.

The ministry views the methanol shipment as a practical trial to see whether the Brahmaputra can serve as a dependable, cheaper export corridor for northeastern industries. Regular shipments of methanol to Bangladesh are planned if this run goes smoothly.

Moving freight by river offers substantial savings in fuel and cuts heavy lorry traffic on regional highways, Sonowal noted. According to ministry figures, freight on Indian inland waterways rose from 18 million metric tonnes in 2013–14 to 218 million metric tonnes in 2025–26. More than ₹6,800 crore is currently committed to waterway infrastructure across the northeast, including a dedicated ship repair yard at Pandu and upgraded road links to its docks.