Domestic coastal ships allowed to dock at India new port in Sittwe

Myanmar’s domestic coastal ships have been allowed to dock at the new port in Sittwe, which was constructed by India, and now the cargo will be able to load and unload from the jetty.

Rakhine State Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RSCCI) on 20 September announced that the local ships were offered the facility.

"Its’ good news that the domestic coastal ships have started berthing at India-Myanmar friendship Kalatan river multipurpose transport project jetty in Sittwe port,” said a RSCCI statement.  

Nadvice is made available to the ship owners by the RSCCI.

Sittwe port was opened on 9 May by the government officials from both India and Myanmar. But soon after the opening, cyyclone Mocha hit Rankine State on 14 May and the port was used for supporting the storm rescue vessels by the military council. Then the other vessels were not permitted to dock.

Currently, the military authorities have granted the permission for both the international and domestic cargo ships (including Sittwe-Rangoon route cargo) to dock at the port.

Sittwe port  is an important part of the ambitious Kaladan project which would connect India’s northeastern State of Mizoram.

The port was built by New Delhi in 2009 with a cost of $120 million. Once the jetty was completed, more than 2,600 tons of rice were sent to Bangladesh through the new port of Sittwe on 13 January as a trial.

Sittwe port is also included in Kaladan river project, which was signed in 2018 as the memorandum of understanding by both the neighbouring governments, where New Delhi invested about USD 500 million.

The project is designed to transport goods from Sittwe port to Palatwa in Chin State through Kaladan river and from Palewa to the Myanmar-India border by the land route.

Currently, the 117-kilometer two-lane highway from Lawngtlai (in Mizoram) to the Myanmar border is under construction. It may take some time.

After commissioning of the the project, trades between the two countries will increase, where the northeastern region of India and western regions of Myanmar will be benefited.