India has sent back four cargo trucks from the gate of its Petrapole port following the cancellation of the transshipment facility for Bangladesh.
On Wednesday evening, India returned the Bangladeshi goods-laden trucks. Later, the four export cargo trucks returned to Dhaka.
Under a transshipment agreement signed on 29 June 2020, goods from Bangladesh could be sent to a third country using Indian territory. India’s Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) cancelled that agreement on Tuesday.
After 29 June 2020, Bangladesh had the opportunity to use an Indian customs station through transshipment to send goods to a third country via another Indian port or airport. Suddenly on Wednesday, India said that goods-laden trucks already on Indian territory must immediately leave Indian soil.
Kartik Chakraborty, general secretary of the C&F Agents’ Staff Welfare Association at India’s Petrapole port, said that the Indian Ministry of Finance issued a letter to customs regarding the closure of the land port’s transit facility. Based on this letter, the entry of transshipment goods from Benapole port to Petrapole port has been halted.
Sazedur Rahman, general secretary of the Benapole C&F Agent Staff Association, said that the Indian government has cancelled the transshipment facility.
As a result, when four export goods-laden trucks tried to enter India’s Petrapole port through Benapole port, they were sent back. These goods-laden trucks belonged to the exporter company DSV Air & Sea Limited based in Dhaka.
Mamun Kabir Tarafder, deputy director (Traffic) of Benapole land port, said that due to the cancellation of the transshipment facility, Petrapole customs did not issue any CARPASS for third-country goods. As a result, they did not receive the four trucks of goods sent for export to a third country.