Bangladesh: Western Marine Shipyard Delivers Four New Vessels


Country’s leading shipbuilding company, Western Marine Shipyard Ltd today delivered four vessels to the German buyer Grona Shipping and Bangladesh government creating another milestone in the shipbuilding industry of Bangladesh. Among the four vessels, German buyer Grona Shipping received two 5200 DWT MPC Vessels and another two vessels were delivered to the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) and Chittagong Port Authority (CPA).

Western Marine Shipyard today handed over the ships at a function conducted on BIWTC Ro-ro ferry “Birsrestho Ruhul Amin” anchored at CPA Marine Workshop Ghat in Agrabad, Chittagong. Minister for Shipping Mr. Shajahan Khan, MP attend the ceremony as the chief guest. Mr. Akhteruzzaman Chowdhury, MP; Mr. Abdul Mannan Howlader, Secretary for Shipping; Mr. Jalal Ahmed, Vice-Chairman of Export Promotion Brueau Bangladesh; Mr. Alphons Hennekens, Dutch Ambassador to Bangladesh & Mr. Rolf Dieter Reinhard, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany to Bangladesh were present as Special guests during the occasion. Besides, Managing Director of Germanischer Lloyd Bangladesh Mr C F Zaman was also present amongst others in the event.

The financers of the three projects BRAC Bank, One Bank, & IFIC Bank were represented by their Managing Directors Mr. Syed Mahbubur Rahman, Mr. Farman R Chowdhury and Mr. Mohammad Abdullah respectively. The three daughters and one son of Birsrestho Shahid Ruhul Amin: Nurzahan Begum, Fatema Begum, Rizia Begum & Mr. Showkat Ali were invited honoring the family of the great hero Ruhul Amin who was posthumously awarded the highest bravery award of the nation for his gallantry service during liberation war. The roro ferry for BIWTC has been named after this great hero.

Managing Director of Grona Shipping, Germany Mr. Ebbe Prins took the delivery of two vessels for German shipping company. These vessels are the third among six pairs of the well-known 5200 DWT Ice Class vessels, EMSTIDE & EMSWAVE.

Chairman of BIWTC Mr. Golam Mostafa and Chairman of CPA Cdre Mr. Anwarul Islam took the delivery of the two ships on behalf of their respective organizations. These two vessels will be operated by the Ministry of Shipping of Bangladesh Government. The one vessel titled ‘Bir Sreshtho Ruhul Amin’, is the largest ever ro-ro ferry built for Bangladesh by a local shipbuilding company. It having the carrying capacity of 370 passengers with 27 trucks will ferry between Chorjanajat-Mawa and Madaripur route.

Another vessel is a pilot cum service vessel built for CPA called “PV Rakkhi” has been designed to carry pilots and sailors from the shore to the outer anchorage.

Speaking at the occasion Mr. Shajahan Khan MP said, “It is amazing to see that within a short span of 10 years this yard has transformed itself from local to global and built the image of Bangladesh as one of the international shipbuilding nations in the world. The present situation of the global shipbuilding industry has presented it with a golden opportunity and our entrepreneurs as well as the government has rightly taken initiatives and expressed keen interest in promoting shipbuilding as a major exporting industry. This will not only solve unemployment problems but also boost foreign currency earning that will contribute a lot in country’s economic growth.”

Western Marine shipyard chairman Mr. Saiful Islam requested the government to continue to act as a facilitator in maintaining a business friendly environment for the development of this nascent shipbuilding industry and raise the status of Bangladesh as a middle-income-country.

Mr Sakhawat Hossain said the Germanischer Lloyd approved vessels have been successfully built in compliance with the highest international standard under the supervision of Class. “This is the first time in the modern shipbuilding history in Bangladesh that a local shipyard would make quadruplet delivery to its three distinguished buyers,” he added.

The EMSWAVE & EMSTIDE are 5200 DWT MPC ships certified as E3 ice-class vessels, meaning that it is designed and equipped to sustain in cryogenic weather condition. Around 3,500 tones of ice-class steel were fabricated by using 60 tones of welding electrodes to build the ships while 23 kilometers of marine cables and 24,000 liters of paints were used for their skin protection.

PV Rakkhi is the first and only pilot-cum service vessel which will be added to the fleet of Chittagong Port Authority from today. The vessel will not only carry pilots but it will be well equipped to provide emergency service to the incoming and outgoing vessels. PV Rakkhi is designed to carry 12 passengers and 10 crews with emergency equipment. The vessel has been modeled to operate round the year within the coastal and sea region of Bangladesh during monsoon rough sea condition (BF– 7) with minimum 3m swell height. Class approved by Germanischer Lloyd, the ship is made with highly strengthened steel to withstand heavy bumping with LCCs & VLCCs.

The ro-ro ferry to be delivered to the BIWTC has been named after the freedom fighter ‘Birsrestho Md. Ruhul Amin’. ‘Birsrestho Md. Ruhul Amin’ is the first Bangladesh-made ro-ro ferry that will be added to the fleet of BIWTC out of ten Danish and two Chinese made ro-ro ferries of BIWTC. The ferry approved by the Germanischer Lloyd is very advanced and sophisticated design. This local made ro-ro ferry will carry passengers and motor vehicles in the Chorjanajat-Mawa route that will help enhance the inland waterways communication system.

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Source: WMS, August 1, 2011.