India and Bangladesh settled their maritime boundary in 2014. The harder work now is operational: turning agreements on ports, coastal shipping and inland waterways into reliable cargo services, while sustaining maritime safety and cooperation on ocean resources. The two countries have established a broad framework, but agreements, trial runs and proposed routes should not be mistaken for fully operational services.
What did the boundary ruling settle?
On 7 July 2014, an arbitration tribunal constituted under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea issued an award delimiting the boundary between Bangladesh and India in the territorial sea, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, both within and beyond 200 nautical miles. The Permanent Court of Arbitration case record describes the award and its scope.
This resolved a major jurisdictional dispute. It did not, by itself, establish cargo services, settle every question of marine-resource management or guarantee that the two countries’ transport agreements would work smoothly in practice.
What does the cooperation framework cover?
The bilateral agenda extends beyond ships crossing the Bay of Bengal. India’s Ministry of External Affairs describes a package of instruments from 2015 that includes a Coastal Shipping Agreement, renewal of the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (PIWTT), an arrangement for use of Chittagong and Mongla ports, and cooperation on the blue economy, the Coast Guards and joint oceanographic research. The MEA summary of India–Bangladesh cooperation records these areas.
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The arrangements have different functions. Coastal shipping concerns commercial navigation between coastal ports; the PIWTT provides for vessels to use designated inland-water routes and notified ports of call, subject to each country’s laws. Port-use arrangements can connect cargo moving through Bangladesh’s ports with destinations in northeastern India. These mechanisms complement one another, but they are not interchangeable.
How are rivers and ports used for cargo?
Inland waterways
The PIWTT route is reported by India’s Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) as 2,660 kilometres long: 1,792 kilometres in Bangladesh and 868 kilometres in India. IWAI says it connects India’s national waterways NW-1, NW-2 and NW-16 and links inland movement with Haldia, Kolkata, Mongla and Chattogram. It can support bilateral trade and transit cargo to India’s northeast, offering an alternative to road corridors and land customs stations.
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IWAI reports approximately 4.68 million tonnes of traffic on the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route in fiscal year 2023–24. It separately reports 3.37 million tonnes from April to December 2024. These figures cover different reporting periods; the latter is not a full-year total and should not be read as directly comparable to the fiscal-year figure. The authority’s overview of the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol also identifies least available depth as an operational parameter and says regular operations on routes 5 and 6 would begin after consent from the Bangladesh government.
Coastal shipping and port access
Coastal shipping and access to Chattogram and Mongla offer a maritime complement to inland routes. A bilateral agreement sets out the coastal-shipping framework; its published text is distinct from later decisions about the cargo covered, port calls and routine operations.
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In 2022, the leaders welcomed trial runs under the Chattogram and Mongla port-use arrangement and called for its full operationalisation. India also sought to expand coastal shipping to third-country export-import (EXIM) cargo, develop direct shipping links and implement the 2019 coastal-radar memorandum of understanding. Those were agenda items and requests in the 2022 joint statement, not confirmation that every service or system was subsequently completed.
Where are the opportunities?
- More routing options: River and coastal connections can give traders alternatives to land crossings. Port access may also help connect northeastern Indian destinations to wider shipping networks.
- Transit and regional cargo: The PIWTT already carries substantial reported traffic and provides a framework for transit toward India’s northeast. Separately, official discussions have considered moving Bangladesh EXIM cargo through Indian east-coast ports using coastal shipping and the PIWTT.
- Broader maritime cooperation: Coast Guard coordination, oceanographic research and blue-economy collaboration provide channels for maritime safety, research and responsible use of marine resources. The framework establishes these areas of cooperation, but the cited material does not quantify their outcomes.
In July 2024, an Indian government release reported that a matter had been moved to facilitate Bangladesh EXIM cargo through Indian east-coast ports under the coastal-shipping agreement and PIWTT. It quoted the two sides as “optimistic about ushering in a new era of maritime connectivity between India and Bangladesh.” The Press Information Bureau account documents official optimism and discussion—not proof that all such cargo movements had become routine.
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What could prevent agreements from becoming dependable services?
Water depth and fairway maintenance
Inland navigation depends on usable depth along the route, including dredging and fairway maintenance. IWAI identifies least available depth as a route parameter, but its cited overview does not establish here that every section is consistently navigable at a particular depth. Route extensions also depend on the required consent before regular operations can begin.
Border and port friction
A National Maritime Foundation policy analysis identifies congestion at Petrapole–Benapole and other land customs stations, along with non-trade barriers, as sources of delay and higher transport costs; it presents coastal shipping as one possible alternative. This is historical policy analysis, not a current congestion measurement. The analysis of coastal-shipping opportunities and challenges also discusses the importance of dredging and assured least available depth.
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Rules and implementation
Operators need clarity not only about whether a route or port is covered by an agreement, but also which cargoes can use it and how customs, immigration and port-call procedures work. Trial runs, requests to broaden cargo rights and calls for full operationalisation indicate that implementation is a separate stage from signing an agreement. In 2023 and 2024, Indian government releases documented further discussions on port access and cargo movement, including the 2024 east-coast proposal (2023 release; 2024 release).
Security cooperation and evidence of results
The 2015 framework includes Coast Guard cooperation and a coastal-radar memorandum of understanding. The 2022 joint statement records India’s request for early implementation of the radar MoU; the cited material does not establish the system’s current deployment status. Similarly, the existence of blue-economy, Coast Guard and oceanographic arrangements is clear, but the sources cited above do not provide quantified results for them.
How to judge whether cooperation is making progress
The practical test is whether agreed connections become predictable services. Useful indicators include regular rather than trial-only port use, dependable waterway depth and fairway maintenance, clear eligibility for bilateral and third-country cargo, and workable customs and port-call procedures. For security and blue-economy cooperation, progress should be assessed through documented implementation and outcomes—not inferred from the existence of an agreement.
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