The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Bangladesh embarked upon a new era in the country's foreign trade history with the export of its first ocean-going ship to Denmark.

Local ship building pioneer Ananda Shipyard and Slipways Limited handed over the 2900 dead weight tonnes (DWT) multipurpose ship at an order price of US$7 million to its Danish buyer in a ceremony at its shipyard at Meghnaghat in Narayanganj yesterday.

"The Ananda Shipyard and Slipways Ltd has created history for the country," said Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, Adviser for Industries and Education at the ceremony while speaking as the chief guest.

"This ship is a prime example of what we are now able to do. Through the vessel, Bangladesh will officially become an ocean-going shipbuilding nation. It has put Bangladesh on the global shipbuilding arena," he said.

Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman underscored the need for the public and private partnership for boosting up the shipbuilding industry in the country.

"The government has assured to provide its support for export based shipbuilding industry," he further said.

Dr Md Nurul Amin, Secretary for Industries Ministry, who attended the ceremony as special guest, said the government will soon declare the ship building sector as an industry.

The Secretary found enormous potentiality in this sector as labour cost in Bangladesh is lower than other shipbuilding nations.

Einer H. Jensen, Ambassador to Denmark, who was also present on the occasion, said, "I was really surprised when I first heard that Bangladesh is going to build a ship to export to Denmark."

"But now it is real. Denmark is delighted to be a part of this development where Danish shipping interest recently have discovered the potential of the Bangladeshi shipyard industry," he said.

Dr Abdullahhel Bari, Chairman of Ananda Shipyard and Slipways Ltd, said, "We took order from Stella Maris Shipping of Denmark for the construction of the ship on September 30, 2005 and have built the ship months before the delivery deadline."

The ship would be able to carry 3000 tonnes of cargo and would ply in the icy seawaters of Europe.

Dr Bari said, the export of the country's first ship would send a big positive signal to the shipping companies, who are looking for new manufacturing destinations to build small vessels, as traditional ship building nations have almost stopped constructing them.

"Our shipbuilding companies have already fetched orders worth around 1550 crore to build 24 ships and the export of the first ship will pave the way for more orders for the companies," Bari said, adding his company has already received Tk 200 core in this regard.

The Ananda Shipyard chairman said shipbuilding would emerge as the next major industry after garments in the country, with the country expected to export ships worth $10 billion by 2020.

Already, two more companies--Western Marine and Highspeed-- have joined Ananda in receiving orders to build ships for European buyers.

At least three more companies are building slipways and shipyards and would be ready for manufacturing vessels by yearend. Several others have expressed their interest to join the potentially lucrative industry.

"Not since the first half of 19th century has Bangladesh been in the business of producing ships for global buyers. It was my 25 years dream to see Bangladesh as a shipbuilding nation. Now it is going to happen," said Mrs Afruja Bari, Managing Director of Ananda Shipyard and Slipways Ltd.

She said the company is now building ships for Denmark, Germany and Mozambique, adding, "We have already enhanced our capacity three times owing to the increased orders."

Among others, Chairman of the Stella Shipping Denmark Jan Fabricius, Executive President of Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd M Farid Uddin Ahmed, Managing Director of Basic Bank Ltd Dr AH Ekbal Hossain, Managing Director of Germanischer Lloyd Bangladesh Ltd Chowdhury F Zaman and former vice-chancellor of Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology (BUET) Professor Dr MH Khan spoke at the function.