A river trade link has reopened after nearly 80 years. A cargo barge left Dibrugarh for Dhaka on October 5. It is the first international cargo from upper Assam since Independence.

Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal flagged off the vessel DLB Patkai at Bogibeel terminal. It is pushed by the tug Kushal Konwar. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma joined the event virtually.

The barge carries 540 tonnes of methanol. It was made by Assam Petro-Chemicals at Namrup. It is headed for Pangaon Port in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The vessel will travel about 768 km on National Waterway-2 along the Brahmaputra. It will then use the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route. The full trip to Narayanganj in Dhaka covers about 1,300 km.

Customs and immigration facilities have been set up at Bogibeel and Dhubri. This made the voyage possible.

The trip is a test. It will show if the Brahmaputra can work as a commercial freight corridor. Regular methanol shipments to Bangladesh are planned.

Sonowal recalled Dibrugarh’s river trade past. He said the steamer whistle that fell silent in 1956 is heard again.