Half of Bangladesh's Cargo Never Touches a Road

Bangladesh's inland waterways move over 50% of national cargo at roughly half the per-tonne cost of road transport — but navigable length has fallen from 8,400 km in 1970 to about 5,200 km.

Launches on a Bangladeshi river — inland water transport carries a quarter of the country's passenger traffic. Photo: Soumyaksaha.dhrubo, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

By the UISC BD Editorial Desk · United Information Service Center · Published 9 September 2026 · 6-minute read

Bangladesh is built on roughly 24,000 kilometres of rivers. Those rivers are not a scenic feature of the country — they are its largest single piece of transport infrastructure.

Inland water transport carries more than 50 percent of all cargo traffic in Bangladesh, and about a quarter of all passenger traffic.

The Economics Are Compelling

According to World Bank estimates, the cost per tonne-kilometre of moving freight by river in Bangladesh is close to half that of road transport. River transport also consumes considerably less fuel per tonne moved, making it both the cheaper and the lower-emission option.

For a country with severe road congestion around Dhaka and rising fuel import costs, that is not a marginal advantage. Every tonne moved by water is a tonne not adding to highway congestion, road maintenance costs or fuel imports.

The Network Has Been Shrinking

Here is the problem the figures expose.

Of the 24,000 km of rivers, roughly 5,923 km are navigable during the monsoon — but that falls to about 3,865 km in the dry season from October to May. Year-round navigable length stands at around 5,200 km, down from more than 8,400 km in 1970.

The country has lost roughly a third of its usable waterway network in half a century. The causes are siltation, upstream water diversion reducing dry-season flow, encroachment on riverbanks, and decades of under-investment in dredging.

The dry-season contraction is particularly costly commercially: a route that works for seven months and fails for five cannot anchor a supply chain.

What Is Being Done

Restoration is under way with substantial international backing. The Bangladesh Regional Waterway Transport Project, supported by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the European Union, focuses on dredging, port modernisation and real-time navigational systems.

The World Bank approved $102 million specifically to improve riverbank protection and navigability on the Jamuna, aimed at maintaining channels deep enough for large cargo vessels year-round.

Waterway improvement is also embedded in the Delta Plan 2100, under which World Bank investment has included improving the navigability of 900 km of inland waterways to cut travel times and transport costs for both cargo and passengers.

Why This Matters for Investment

Logistics cost is one of the first things a manufacturer models when choosing a country, and Bangladesh's road network is congested.

A functioning river network changes that calculation, particularly for bulk and non-urgent freight — construction materials, agricultural produce, fuel, cement and the steel that comes out of the ship recycling yards at Sitakunda.

It also reshapes location decisions. River access is a genuine site-selection criterion in Bangladesh in a way it is not in most countries, and industrial land with a working river frontage carries real logistical value. That applies directly to Mongla and to the newly connected southern region, where rivers remain the historical transport spine.

The Regional Dimension

There is a wider prize. Proposals for an Eastern Waterways Grid would connect Bangladesh's river network with those of Bhutan, India and Nepal — giving landlocked Himalayan economies water access toward the Bay of Bengal, and giving Bangladesh transit revenue and regional leverage.

That remains a proposal rather than a project. But it illustrates why the rivers are strategically significant well beyond domestic freight: Bangladesh sits at the delta end of a river system that drains a large part of South Asia, and whoever maintains navigable channels there controls a regional corridor.

Sources

"Bangladesh — First Bangladesh Regional Waterway Transport Project," World Bank — documents.worldbank.org
"World Bank helps Bangladesh improve riverbank protection and navigability of the Jamuna River," World Bank — worldbank.org
"Unlocking Bangladesh's inland waterways," New Age — newagebd.net
"Eastern Waterways Grid to benefit BBIN countries," The Financial Express — thefinancialexpress.com.bd

dredging bangladesh (1)

The Rivers Carry Half of Bangladesh's Cargo