Western Marine exports ship to Ecuador

Western Marine has recently exported a ship—MV Isla Bartolomé—to Ecuador.

The ship, which was earlier called MV Stella Atlantic, was renamed as MV Isla Bartolomé in memory of the British naval officer and naturalist Lieutenant Sir Bartholomew James Sulivan.

The ship will transport cargo from Guayaquil to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, Western Marine said in a statement yesterday.

“It will serve thousands of merchants in the islands and of course all its inhabitants,” Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said while praising the ship's quality.

The ship will be operated by Transnave, an Ecuador-based state shipping company in South America, according to the statement.

This is the first time a ship has been exported to Ecuador from Bangladesh, Western Marine said.

A commission from Ecuador with Captain Alejandro Villacis Aguilar, director of Ecuadorian Navy Company, and Luis Mera Brito, managing director of Transnave, visited Bangladesh in June this year to procure the ship, which arrived in Ecuador on August 30. The 88.6-metre-long Isla Bartolomé is a multipurpose tweendecker ship equipped with 120 tonnes heavy lifting cranes.