Dibrugarh: A view of the ‘DLB Patkai’, a cargo vessel carrying 540 metric tonnes of methanol from Dibrugarh to Dhaka, marking the first shipment from the Upper Assam town to a foreign destination since Independence, in Dibrugarh, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
India has marked a significant milestone with the first international cargo voyage from Bogibeel terminal in Assam’s Dibrugarh, carrying methanol to Dhaka, Bangladesh.
A barge carrying 540 metric tonnes of methanol left Bogibeel terminal for Dhaka on Monday.
Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW), flagged off the vessel DLB Patkai, pushed by the tug Kushal Konwar from Bogibeel. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma joined the ceremony virtually.
“It is the first cargo shipped from upper Assam to a foreign port since India’s independence in 1947, nearly 70 years after the town’s river ghat closed. The methanol, produced by state-owned Assam Petro-Chemicals (APCL) at Namrup, is bound for Pangaon Port in Dhaka,” according to a release issued from the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
The vessel will travel about 768 kilometres down National Waterway-2 on the Brahmaputra River in India to the Indo-Bangladesh border, then continue along the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route (IBPR). The vessel will cover a total distance of 1,300 kms from Bogibeel, Dibrugarh to Narayanganj, Dhaka.
“The voyage is being observed as a test of whether the Brahmaputra can serve as a commercially viable freight corridor linking the Northeast to overseas markets. Regular methanol shipments to Bangladesh are planned. The shipment became possible after customs and immigration complexes were set up at Bogibeel and Dhubri recently,” the release said.
“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.
“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,” Sonowal added.
Sarma called it a proud day for Assam. “Assam’s own product, made in Namrup, is now traveling to an international market on Assam’s own river, The Northeast is no longer a frontier. It is India’s gateway to the East.” he said.
Sonowal said the shipment was a beginning. “This is the first voyage, not the last,” he said. “To the youth of Assam I say: Dream with this river. The world is no longer far away. It is downstream. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Dibrugarh, the Tea Capital of India, is reclaiming the glory it once had as a great river port. We are building it with world-class infrastructure while honouring its heritage. The steamer whistle that fell silent in 1956 is heard again,” Sonowal added.
Published on October 5, 2026
