A smart phone-based application, the first of its kind in the country, was launched on Sunday to facilitate booking cargo vessels by business people to carry goods through inland waterways.
The app, named Jahaji, will especially benefit ship owners, goods suppliers, agents and brokers and it will also make possible the purchase of goods like sand or stones from moving vessels.
With that app, anyone can book a lighter vessel and track its position. At the same time, Jahaji allows people to check the price and quality of goods and their purchase from moving vessels. The developer of the app claimed that no other country offers this kind of service for lighter vessels.
The app was launched by Jahaji Limited, a private sector firm, at a ceremony held at the National Press Club in capital Dhaka in the presence of state minister for shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury.
The initiative of launching the app had been taken by two youths, Md Abdullah Al Shariatullah and Abhinandan Jotdar, and Jahaji Ltd chairman Shaikh Bahauddin. Abdullah and Abhinandan obtained their master’s degree in finance from the University of Dhaka. Abdullah is also chief executive officer of Jahaji Limited and Abhinandan is its director.
The state minister urged more youths to come forward with more initiatives like this for the development of the country’s waterways sector. Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, former chairman of the Bangladesh Cargo Vessel Owners’ Association, expressed hope that the services would create business-friendly environment in the waterways sector.
Officials of Jahaji Limited said that the app users could book any lighter ship following their preferences and could track the position of the vessel anytime.
The users could also buy goods like sand and stone from running vessels by checking quality, get information of all trips and customer supports round the clock. The android version of the app is available in the Google Play Store.
According to government estimates, there are less than 7,000 lighter vessels in the country but in reality the number exceeds 30,000.
