Local firm to deliver 2 ships to Danish buyer in April
One of two ships built by local Ananda Shipyard and Slipways Ltd to be delivered to a Danish buyer in April this year. The local company has so far received orders to build 14 ships worth US$200 million.
A local company is set to deliver two ships to a Danish buyer in April this year as Bangladesh's ship building industry has come of age.
Ananda Shipyard and Slipways Ltd will deliver the US$26 million ships to Denmark's Stella Shipping. The capacity of each ship is 2,900 DWT (deadweight tonnes).
Ananda Shipyard has so far received orders to build 14 ships worth US$200 million, company officials told a briefing in Dhaka yesterday. The ships will be delivered to German, Danish and Mozambique buyers by 2010, the officials added.
“Orders for new ships are also pouring in,” Afruja Bari, managing director of Ananda Shipyard, said. “But we could not receive all orders because of our capacity constraints,” she said.
International buyers and Ananda Shipyard officials said the local industry has the capacity to grab a portion of global shipbuilding market, but they said it needs government support.
“Shipbuilders in Bangladesh have the capacity,” said Jan Fabricius, chairman of Stella Shipping. But they need to reduce the time of delivery, he added.
Gerd Wessels, managing director of Wessels Reederei GmbH and Co, Germany, said: “Lead time in shipbuilding industry is very crucial as demurrage cost is very high.”
“I'm absolutely convinced with the quality I've seen here,” said York Dyckerhoff, managing director of a Germany-based shipping company.
Choudhury Fakhruz Zaman, a marine engineer and country manager of Germanischer Lloyd, a ship certifying company, said the quality of Bangladesh-made ship was quite competitive.
International estimates indicate that there is a sizable demand for new commercial ships over the next few years because the commercial fleet in different countries is very old.
Ananda Shipyard Chairman Abdullahel Bari said the current market of the global shipbuilding industry is US$800 billion. China alone has US$100 billion worth of export orders and India has US$8 billion orders.
Only two privately owned yards, including Ananda Shipyard's, are producing ships commercially. The other local company is Western Marine Shipyard.
Afruja Bari said fiscal policies are crucial for local shipbuilding industry. India's ship building industry gets government support, she added.
Speaking at the function, Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman said Bangladesh's shipbuilding firms must learn to build ships competitively by streamlining management structures, employing new manufacturing processes, and revitalizing labour forces.
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