A first-ever bonded cargo from Bangladesh flew out of Kolkata airport recently. It is the first cross-border, land-air transshipment from Bangladesh that flew out of the Kolkata since Expo Freight Limited (EFL) introduced a tailor-made logistics solution to handle such cargo transhipments between the two neighboring countries. This was, a consignment of apparel from Bangladesh that flew out of Kolkata airport on January 1, 2019 and was jointly handled by the India and Bangladesh offices of the company.

As per media reports Bangladeshi trucks carrying cargo weighing 4.1 tonnes transferred the goods to Indian trucks at the Benapole (Dhaka) – Petrapole (India) border. From there, via GPS enabled trucks, the cargo moved to the Kolkata airport. Finally, it was air freighted to reach the terminal destination in Europe within the specified time window.

As per logistic experts, it is a landmark development and was possible because of a sharp improvement in bilateral relations between Dhaka and Delhi. By using such channel, Bangladesh RMG exporters have got a viable alternative to beat the congestion in their own ports and airports to reach consignments to foreign buyers on schedule and could provide West Bengal’s underutilised logistics infrastructure worthwhile business.