The government is set to increase the number of freight vessels to overcome the supply and demand mismatch, officials said.
Presently, the country has been facing an acute shortage of lighterage ships, which is hampering transportation of goods across the country, they added.
To improve the situation, the shipping ministry is likely to revise the ceiling on building of new ships in the country.
Currently, the government gives green light to 220 designs for building new ships a year.
The latest move was taken to shore up the country's shipping trade and the water transport sector.
Some 500 more lighter ships are urgently required to ferry imported goods from the Chittagong port.
When contacted, secretary of the shipping ministry Md Abdus Samad said, "There is a huge demand for lighter ships in the country. A good number of lighter ships are required only to transport fertiliser and food items. So, we want to increase the number of the ships."
"Presently, many rivers are being dredged in the country to increase navigability. We want to use the waterway for transportation of the bulk of goods," he said.
"Transportation of goods is being hampered due to shortage of lighter ships," a senior official of the department of shipping told the FE.
A process is underway to balance the demand and supply of the cargo ships in the country, he added.
Presently, there are 2550 lighterage ships operating on different routes in the country.
Of them, 1000 ships are being operated under Water Transport Cell (WTC) and 500 ships under private initiative, 100 ships are chartered by private companies, 400 ships carry goods from Mongla port, 300 ships run on Bangladesh-India protocol route and 150 ships on waterway in the Sylhet region.
Some 300 or 350 more lighter ships would be required for Payra port once it starts full-scale operation.
According to the department of shipping, about 65 million tonnes of goods are cleared from Chittagong port annually. As the export-import trades are growing in the country, 500 more lighter ships are needed for the Chittagong port.
Besides, some 40 lighter ships would be required to transport fuel for coal-fired power stations.
A good number of lighter ships would also be required to transport over 1.4 million tonnes of coal to Barapukuria Coal Power Plant.
Some 198 and 236 freight ships were registered with the authorities concerned in 2017 and 2018 respectively, according to the shipping ministry.
The government approved 129 and 344 designs for new ships in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
Besides, some 362 applications seeking approval for designs of lighterage ships have remained pending with the authorities until October 2018.
Presently, there are about 9725 ships of different types in the country, according to the department of shipping.
