Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation(BIWTC)

(An Inland Shipping Organisation)

5, Dilkusha Commercial Area, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh.

Background of the Organisation :

Before liberation of Bangladesh among the Organisations engaged in Coastal or Inland Shipping or Water Transport business there was only one Organisation owned by the Govt and the others were private limited companies, firms and individual operators. The only Govt. organisation “ East Pakistan Shipping Corporation ” used to operate coastal passenger service and two ferry services. During liberation war the communication system of the country was totally disrupted. As a result there was acute problem in transportation of relief materials, cargo, vehicles and passengers. Under the circumstances Govt. felt it necessary to reorganise the disrupted transport system for easy and safe transportation of passengers, cargo and vehicles both in Inland and Coastal areas by establishing a Govt. transport organisation. With this vision, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) was established in the public sector by the Govt. in 1972.

Legal Status

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation was established in the year 1972 under the Presidential order (P.O) No.28 with one Govt and nine private organisations as under :

No	Name of the organisation	Number of Vessel
1.	The East Pakistan Shipping Corporation	39
2.	The Pakistan River Steamers Limited	321
3.	The Chalna Lighterage Limited	31
4.	The Orient water Transport	9
5.	The Pakbay Company Limited	106
6.	The Pakistan Flotilla Company Limited	44
7.	The United Shipping Lines Limited	26
8.	The S.A. Sustari and Company Limited	5
9.	The S.B. Industries.	3
10.	The Shohagpur Transportation Services Limited. (This Organisation with all its assets and manpowers returned to its owner later on)	24
	Total	608



BIWTC AT A GLANCE:

1. UNIT WISE NO.OF VESSELS
	NAME OF UNIT	COMMERCIAL VESSEL			AUXILIARY VESSEL		TOTAL VESSEL
	i. FERRY SERVICE:
	FERRY		35		9		44
	TUG		11		0		11
			46		9		55
	ii. PASSENGER SERVICE:
	PADDLE STEAMER		4		13		17
	OTHER VESSEL		24		0		24
			28		13		41

	iii. CARGO SERVICE UNIT		67		18		85
	iv. SHIP REPAIR SERVICE		0		13		13
	Total=		141		53		194


2. NAME OF BIWTC`S FERRY SERVICE:
	ROUTE	DISTANCE		DEPARTURE		CRUSING TIME
	i. Paturia-Kazirhat	19 Km.		Round the Clock		2-30 hours
	ii. Paturia-Daulatdia	3 Km.		"		30 minutes
	iii. Mawa-Charjanazat	13 Km.		"		1-40 hours
	iv. Chandpur-Shariatpur	10 Km.		"		1-30 hours


Ferry Fare for vehicles :