Well to this day there has been no concerted effort by the Export promotion folks or BIDA to promote this industry. Shipbuilding industry is apparently a little volatile, that could be part of the reason.
I hear you about large ships being profitable bhai, but we need to crawl well before we can learn to walk. Building larger ships will need a whole bunch of prerequisites such as robust bank financing and tax incentive support. building a 100,000 ton behemoth also requires very large yards.
No yard in Bangladesh can build ships larger than 15,000 DWT at the moment, except maybe KSY and/or Chittagong Drydocks, both of which belong to the Navy. Western Marine could build up to 12,000 DWT but they really need to expand their yardage. Until these yards can profit, they cannot expand.
There was quite a bit of interest in the last couple of years from Chinese and Korean yards to buy or even build a local yard so they could participate in the local activity. Infusion of Korean and Chinese shipbuilding standards will change the face of local sea-going shipbuilding. Meanwhile, read this from Korea times,
Shipbuilding: Bangladesh’s booming growth engine
in
Shipbuilding News 08/05/2018
Bangladesh has the potential to become the next Asian economic powerhouse driven by cheap labor and a population of more than 163 million.
The country has reported an average economic growth rate of six percent for the past five years, outperforming that of other underdeveloped countries. In particular, the country is ranked 17th out of 134 nations in terms of its potential growth rate of 6.4 percent or more in 2017 and 2018, according to the World Bank’s Dhaka office.
The rapid growth has long been attributable to exports in mostly primary industries in areas such as garments and agricultural products.
One lesser-known industry with huge growth potential for the country, however, is shipbuilding. As a riverine country, the country has taken advantage of shipbuilding as a major form of transportation for trade.
Bangladesh has 700 rivers, providing 24,000 kilometers of waterways. Driven by this geographical feature, the country holds more than 100,000 skilled and 150,000 semi-skilled workers in the shipbuilding industry.
But it was not long before the country began exporting its ships, due to weak infrastructure for building info-tech facilities.
For this reason, Bangladesh has in recent years shifted its focus into selling small- and medium-sized ships to other countries.
Dockyard and Engineering Works Limited (DEW) is particularly one of the biggest and oldest dockyards in the country. The facility, established in 1922, boasts 21.78 acres of land on the eastern bank of the River Shitalakshya in Narayanganj in central Bangladesh.
One noteworthy historic chapter of DEW dates back to the country’s independence in 1971 when the facility was run by Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation of the Ministry of Industries.
DEW continued with a decent performance in terms of sales and management until 1980s, but had to be laid off at the end of 2002. The country then handed the shipbuilder to the Bangladesh Navy in 2006. Combining the Navy’s knowhow and expertise, DEW has since been able to stand on a progressively rising curve.
The dockyard has since diversified its product lineup to meet growing needs from local and international buyers with a keen focus on its engineering capability for steel and aluminum.
In 2012, the dockyard achieved a major breakthrough by developing a water jet-powered aluminum boat for the country’s coast guard. This was the first time for the country to develop such a ship with the technology.
The shipyard’s capabilities are not limited to shipbuilding expertise, but also repairs. So far, the facility has manufactured hundreds of vessels, mostly small ones, and repaired thousands of ships.
For now, DEW aims to acquire a composite technology to manufacture state-of-the-art medium-sized vessels by 2025. In a shorter period of time, the company also hopes to build 6,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT) boats by 2020.
Strong focus on small- and medium-sized ships
DEW has a wide variety of vessels encompassing patrol crafts, high-speed boats and small ferries and survey boat, providing them for a number of governments and private organizations.
The Dhaka-based shipyard, however, understands the fierce market competition. To survive in the growing market uncertainty, DEW plans to focus solely on enhancing its competitive edge in building small- and medium-sized vessels.
“For example, China is building large-capacity ships, but we are building small- and medium-capacity ships,” DEW Deputy General Manager Enamul Hassan told reporters last month on the sidelines of the “Visit Bangladesh” program.
Systemic organizational structure
As part of its efforts to raise its relatively weak global profile, the Dhaka-based shipbuilder puts top priority on developing vessels under systematic management by the Navy.
The organizational structure of the facility is subdivided into four major parts ― each engaging in planning and design, production, finance and administration.
DEW can also dock up to 1,200 tons of vessels with 88.4 meters in length. As the country’s largest dockyard, the facility can manage a wide variety of vessel management activities ― such as painting, electrical work and carpentry.
DEW is particularly running its own quality control team ― consisting of naval architectural, mechanical and electrical engineering and specialized ship management personnel to ensure the quality of its vessels.
To ensure the safety of its workforce, DEW also has 10 qualified security experts and safety-assuring equipment.
DEW’s production area is fitted with water hydrants as well as usual portal fire extinguishers. All of the regular firefighting training is conducted under the direct supervision of qualifier trainers, according to DEW.
“We have almost zero emissions into the atmosphere and water,” the ranking official said. “Our environmental activities are driven under the direct and systemic supervision of the Bangladesh Navy.”
