Motorcycle fuel tanks perforate within three years, as a huge tank market grows in Jessore

The fuel tanks of imported motorcycles of various brands are failing within just three to three-and-a-half years of hitting the road. Rust forms inside them and small holes appear. Ordinary welding no longer makes them durable, so riders are forced to fit new tanks.

Against this suffering and extra cost for riders, a huge market for buying and selling fuel tanks, denting and painting has grown up in Jessore. Business is booming, yet there is a fog over the real cause — poor-quality fuel, or substandard metal used to make the tanks.

Visiting mechanic quarters and garages across Jessore city, one sees a constant bustle of motorcycle tanks being taken off. Around the city's Naldanga Road and Rabindranath Thakur (RN) Road areas, large-scale denting and painting work centred on tanks is under way.

Near the regional office of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), several factories have sprung up that finish imported 'blank' (unpainted) tanks and refurbish old ones. Skilled workers there clean rust, apply coatings, spray-paint, polish and attach stickers. Jessore has at least 25 to 30 specialised showrooms selling tanks alone, and 90 percent of the small parts in those showrooms are motorcycle tanks.

As riders' demand for replacement tanks has grown, retail tank imports from India have risen to record levels. A review of Benapole Customs data shows imports have increased nearly fivefold since 2023. The tanks are assessed for duty at four dollars per kilogram.

In the last five years (2022-2026), more than 2,143,199 kilograms of fuel tanks were cleared through Benapole Customs. Traders say an average tank weighs about 3 kilograms 380 grams, which works out to roughly 634,023 tanks imported in five years — the bulk of them in the last two years.

Sujan Dutta, who imports tanks from India, says tanks are available in India in two states — painted and blank — and most imports are now blank tanks, which are painted in Jessore and sent across the country. By his estimate, about 90 percent of the country's demand is supplied from Jessore. At least 15 importers are in the business, and there are seven to eight large painting factories in Jessore.

Shanta Molla runs a factory beside Naldanga Road, where workers can be seen painting and polishing several tanks at once. Involved in denting and painting for 27 years, Shanta Molla says he has been working with blank tanks brought from India for two years. An average of 30 tanks are painted daily at his factory, which employs nine people including himself.

Motorcyclist Rubel Hawlader has come to Jessore from Mongla in Bagerhat. He says: 'The fuel tank of the bike I bought three years ago has sprung a leak. I came to Jessore and bought a Bajaj Pulsar tank for Tk 10,600. I heard the painting here is good and durable, so I came.' But he expressed frustration that nobody seems concerned about why a new bike's tank fails within three years.

There is no certain answer to why the tanks fail so quickly. Whether adulteration or harmful chemicals in the fuel, or the poor quality of the metal used in the tanks, is to blame is not clear.

A report on the issue was published in Prothom Alo on October 22, 2025. The report noted that a letter had been sent to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) on October 12 that year complaining about the quality of fuel collected from depots.