The second consignment of rice imported from India under an open tender arrived at Mongla Port on Saturday morning. Two vessels, the Panama-flagged BMC Alpha and the Thailand-flagged MV Sea Forest, delivered a total of 16,400 tons of rice. BMC Alpha, carrying 7,700 tons from India’s Dhamra Port, anchored at the port's No. 7 mooring buoy, while MV Sea Forest, loaded with 8,700 tons from Kolkata Port, anchored at the fairway buoy. Siddiqur Rahman Jalal, manager of Mango Shipping Lines—the shipping agent for both vessels—confirmed that unloading will begin on February 3. This follows the first consignment, which arrived on January 20 via the Vietnam-flagged MV Puthan-36 with 5,700 tons of rice. As per the Mongla Food Controller’s Office, Bangladesh is set to import 300,000 tons of rice from India under this agreement, with 40% to be unloaded at Mongla Port and the remainder at Chittagong Port. Abdus Sobhan, assistant controller at the Directorate General of Food (Movement and Storage), stated that physical testing of rice samples will take place on Sunday, ahead of the unloading process starting Monday.