Cargo ship unloads its containers: Direct Pak-BD route marks rebuilding ties
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.
Bangladesh’s 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.
