UAE-based companies turn to Bangladesh to build their ships

[Kailash Kumar]

UAE-based companies turn to Bangladesh to build their ships

SHEHAB SUMON

October 14, 2019

DHAKA: At present, Bangladeshi ships are being exported to around 12 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe.

“Made in Bangladesh ships have a huge potential in India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Germany and some African countries. Now, our focus is to have more orders from different international buyers and Bangladesh government is also formulating the policies for this export oriented industries,” Dr. Abdullahel Bari, president of the Association of Export Oriented Shipbuilding Industries of Bangladesh (AEOSIB) told Arab News.

Bari, who is also the chairman of Ananda shipyard, said that the country has more than 100 shipyards which produce different kind of ships for the local and international markets. Of them, 12 large shipyards have the capacity to meet the demand of the international market. He said that Bangladesh will have a “golden period” in the next five years in the ship-building sector with both the government and private sector investors keen on exploring new opportunities.

“If everything goes according to the plan, our export earnings from shipbuilding will exceed the benchmark of $1 billion per year within the next five years,” Bari said.

He added that, as a Muslim nation, Bangladesh enjoys goodwill in the Middle East especially in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

“To bag the opportunities in the Gulf countries, from now onwards, we should have more active participation in different marine fares in Saudi Arabia and UAE,” Dr. Bari said.

UAE-based shipping company Al Rashid shipping is already in talks with Bangladeshi shipbuilders to source its ships, with Western Marine Shipyard Limited (WMS) – one of the leading shipbuilders in the country – securing orders for the construction of two oil tankers worth $6.8 million.

“With government support, shipbuilding could play an important role in export diversification. The main challenge for this sector is arranging working capital for projects. If banks and financial institutions come forward in supporting this sector, we can secure more orders from local and foreign buyers,” Saiful Islam, WMS Chairman, said. The shipbuilding company is expecting more orders from the UAE market after the successful delivery of these oil tankers.

“According to our capacity, Bangladeshi shipbuilders can only concentrate on building medium-sized vessels which is within 15,000 Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT) capacity and various utility vessels like OPV, TUGS, offshore vessels, survey vessels, inland container vessels, multi purpose cargo vessels, survey vessels, landing crafts, ro-ro ferries, passenger ships,” Captain Sohail Hasan, managing director of WMS told Arab News.

In 2017, Western Marine also exported one Landing Craft namely “Ajman Trans” to the same company making it the 43rd ship to be exported from Bangladesh.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1568476/business-economy

 

[Bilal9]

Latest (fourth?) in a series of ten, JSW LOHGAD for Jindal Steel India is seen being launched at the Western Marine Shipyard in Chattogram, Bangladesh. The river is the poetically named 'Karnaphuli'.

 

[HAIDER]

Latest (fourth?) in a series of ten, JSW LOHGAD for Jindal Steel India is seen being launched at the Western Marine Shipyard in Chattogram, Bangladesh. The river is the poetically named 'Karnaphuli'.

They imported steel from India ....

 

[Bilal9]

JSW PRATAPGAD launching at WMSL - these ships displace around 9000 tonnes.

Here are shots of the bridge and daily life in JSW RAIGAD (all integration completed locally in Bangladesh with overseas marine equipment per customer's specs).

They imported steel from India ....

I have no idea.

I don't know if high quality shipbuilding plates are made in India and those are cheaper than China plates. JSW being a global company it'd seem they'd source it from China too if cheaper.

I believe Western Marine uses Chinese plates in most of its high quality builds.

Plates for shipbuilding have a different composition compared to steel used in fabricating industrial items like piping and large boiler vessels.

 

[bluesky]

They imported steel from India ....

Please understand that even the steel rod products made in BD do not satisfy the International standard. So, many of the foreign Contractors import steel rods from another source although many people think any steel is just another steel. This is not true and the steel for shipbuilding is quite different from rod/bar steel.

It has to take heavy impact and changes in water temperature. Moreover. steel mills in BD may not be able to produce wide and long plates, for example, 1.5m x 6.0m).

I found two grades of steel that are used for shipbuilding which the BD steel mills are certainly unable to produce until strictly binding codes and standards are formulated and imposed. However, it is not an easy feat for a country infested with easy-going people. There are other grades, too.

So, these are the reasons BD has to import shipbuilding steel from the reliable sources. I personally do not know the source of import. Is it India?

Property, Grade A Grade B
% of Carbon, 0.21 max, 0.21
% of Manganese, 2.5 times %C min, 0.8 times %C min
% of Silicon, 0.5 max, 0.35
% of Phosphorous, 0.035 max, 0.035 max
% of Sulphur, 0.035 max 0.035 max

 

[ghost250]

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1568476/business-economy

UAE-based companies turn to Bangladesh to build their ships

Vessels worth $160 million were exported by the South Asian country last year

DHAKA: At present, Bangladeshi ships are being exported to around 12 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe.

“Made in Bangladesh ships have a huge potential in India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Germany and some African countries. Now, our focus is to have more orders from different international buyers and Bangladesh government is also formulating the policies for this export oriented industries,” Dr. Abdullahel Bari, president of the Association of Export Oriented Shipbuilding Industries of Bangladesh (AEOSIB) told Arab News.

Bari, who is also the chairman of Ananda shipyard, said that the country has more than 100 shipyards which produce different kind of ships for the local and international markets. Of them, 12 large shipyards have the capacity to meet the demand of the international market. He said that Bangladesh will have a “golden period” in the next five years in the ship-building sector with both the government and private sector investors keen on exploring new opportunities.

“If everything goes according to the plan, our export earnings from shipbuilding will exceed the benchmark of $1 billion per year within the next five years,” Bari said.

He added that, as a Muslim nation, Bangladesh enjoys goodwill in the Middle East especially in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

“To bag the opportunities in the Gulf countries, from now onwards, we should have more active participation in different marine fares in Saudi Arabia and UAE,” Dr. Bari said.

UAE-based shipping company Al Rashid shipping is already in talks with Bangladeshi shipbuilders to source its ships, with Western Marine Shipyard Limited (WMS) – one of the leading shipbuilders in the country – securing orders for the construction of two oil tankers worth $6.8 million.

“With government support, shipbuilding could play an important role in export diversification. The main challenge for this sector is arranging working capital for projects. If banks and financial institutions come forward in supporting this sector, we can secure more orders from local and foreign buyers,” Saiful Islam, WMS Chairman, said. The shipbuilding company is expecting more orders from the UAE market after the successful delivery of these oil tankers.

“According to our capacity, Bangladeshi shipbuilders can only concentrate on building medium-sized vessels which is within 15,000 Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT) capacity and various utility vessels like OPV, TUGS, offshore vessels, survey vessels, inland container vessels, multi purpose cargo vessels, survey vessels, landing crafts, ro-ro ferries, passenger ships,” Captain Sohail Hasan, managing director of WMS told Arab News.

In 2017, Western Marine also exported one Landing Craft namely “Ajman Trans” to the same company making it the 43rd ship to be exported from Bangladesh.

 

[GHALIB]

very nice .

 

[Signalian]

Cheap labor cost could be a factor also.

 

[Bilal9]

Cheap labor cost could be a factor also.

Labor accounts at about 15% in the finished cost of a vessel in any country so it is certainly a factor.

But quality of workmanship has to be a factor as well.

The first exports of Western Marine were to Germany and Denmark, two of the most discerning logistics markets globally. There have been multiple repeat orders from those countries as well as Norway and Finland.

Being a maritime seafaring nation around the Bay of Bengal with strong trade ties with Mynamar, Malaysia and Thailand (and of course India) - Bangladesh has a strong background in building ships since ancient times. Present shipbuilding industry of Bangladesh is based on its history of building boats and sea vessels.

Having many rivers and a great pelagic coastal area Bangladesh was the center of building ocean-going vessels in Asia between the 15th and 17th century. In the early 19th century, the shipyards of Chittagong built many commercial ships of up to 1,000 tons, including some British ships that took part in the naval battle of Trafalgar.

As a sequel of these histories now Bangladesh boasts more than 200 formal and informal shipbuilding and ship-repair yards. Among those, 22 are known internationally, and all these were not possible without the help of modern marine technology.

Bangladesh specializes in smaller niche market vessels such as ICE class bulkers, mechanized deep sea fishing vessels as well as waterjet-equipped armed patrol boats (35 knots - see below). But local yard sizes do not yet permit builds larger than say 15000 DWT.

Western Marine in Chittagong delivered a SOLAS (hybrid propulsion) passenger/cargo vessel 'MV Mataliki' to New Zealand late last year. The vessel plies a service between New Zealand, Samoa, Tokelau and other South Pacific Islands.

RO RO Ferry 'Isefjord' plies the waters in faraway Denmark. The size may be small - but the interesting thing about this ferry is that there are four rotatable underwater propulsion modules that can maneuver this thing any which way you want, all controllable by two people from an iPhone. Made in Chittagong.

Propulsion & Steering System:
Maker: Schottel
Model: STP 0330 FP
Steering Type: SCHOTTEL SST 602
Number: Two (aft & forward)
Upper and lower gear box type: SCHOTTEL CYCLO-PALLOID-TYPE GEAR DIAMETER
Gear ratio: 4.042:1
Shafting Arrangement on each propulsion: 2 X Carden Shaft,1x Solid Intermediate Shaft,1x Elastic Coupling
Shafting Length: 4000 Mm (each propulsion)

Class Notation:
I +HULL + MACH
RO-RO PASSENGER SHIP
COASTAL AREA
+AUT-UMS, ICE CLASS 1D
Other important environmental and international regulations complied as per Danish Maritime Authority.

Local riverine transport is of course designed and made locally using marine architects and design houses, the latest trend is moving toward shallow draft catamarans propelled by waterjets which cut down commute time by half or more. The ones below ply the Dhaka to Barisal route.