The river port provides waterway access to 21 districts in the south of the country.
Over 600 vessels, most of them small, were waiting to make the Padma crossing at the port around 9am on Saturday morning.
Passengers to various districts have faced long waits since dawn. Many have boarded launches or speedboats due to delays on the ferry.
“The number of passengers and vessels has increased steadily since the morning,” said Shimulia port BIWTC Manager Abdul Alim.
A total of 18 ferries are making the trip from Shimulia to Kanthalbari port for the Eid trips, the official said.
“The length of the route has decreased after the drilling and shifting of the port. This means there are more trips. A temporary halt on cargo shipping has been enforced , but more than six hundred vessels are still waiting at the port.”
At least 20 passengers were injured on Saturday morning after a Gungun Transport bus travelling from Dhaka to Mawa fell into a ditch in Srinagar Upazila’s Bejgaon.
The victims are currently undergoing treatment at a local medical complex, highway police said.
“The traffic has dropped a bit since Friday night,” he said.
One-hundred-and-twenty police personnel have been deployed in the Gojaria area of the highway to help with Eid travel, he added.