Two of the eight ferries on the Shimulia-Majhirkandi river route have been transferred to other routes after the opening of the Padma Bridge.
“The two ferries were moved in the morning as there wasn’t too much traffic,” said Enam Ahmed, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation in-charge at Majhirkandi port, reports bdnews24.com.
The two ferries shifted were the Sufia Kamal and the Begum Rokeya.
The two have been sent to the Aricha port.
The Padma Bridge was opened to traffic at 6 am on Sunday after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated it on Saturday. The impact of the bridge’s opening can be seen at the ferry, launch and speedboat piers.
The pier for the Shimulia-Majhirkandi route was quiet and largely free of vehicles. None of the ferries on the route left dock on Sunday due to low demand, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority said.
Launches and speedboats are operating at the port on a limited basis, but the number of passengers is down by a significant margin, said Shahadat Hossain, a BIWTA official at the port on Sunday.
“It used to be that we couldn’t handle the passenger rush with 155 speedboats. But now 12 speedboats and eight of the 87 launches have left for Majhirkandi and Banglabazar. And they weren’t at full capacity when they set off to cross the Padma.”
