Bangladesh on threshold of export binge

Bangladesh claims it is set to be swamped with orders for small ocean-going ships in the coming years as major Asian shipbuilders are now fully booked and are either turning down orders or delaying deliveries, industry people and service providers said.

Policy and fiscal supports from the government can help the fledgling industry fetch billions of dollars in export revenue using available local expertise and resources, they said. But, ?Government supports are a must for the industry to sustain its growth,? Patrik Wagar, regional sales director of Wartsila Bangladesh, said in Dhaka recently.

He referred to substantial supports provided by the governments of emerging ship-making nations like India and Vietnam apart from major players such as China, South Korea and Japan. Assisted by state support, China overtook long-time market leader South Korea, commanding 35% of the global ship market. South Korea follows with 29% share and Japan 14%, while Bangladesh is placed among Asian new entrants along with Vietnam, Philippines and India, altogether sharing 10% of the total market.

There are 43 vessels on Bangladesh?s dockyards now waiting for delivery between 2008 and 2012, said the executive of Wartsila, whose local officials said they had booked orders for ship machinery worth $40 million from Bangladesh?s shipbuilders. Ananda Shipyard chairman Abdullah Bari said a huge pool of local expertise as well as skilled and semi-skilled workforces made the foundation of Bangladesh?s shipbuilding industry.

Delivery time is as short as 15 months, compared with global average of three years, which is an additional advantage for Bangladesh to get an avalanche of orders in the days to come, he said. Ananda, the pioneer in local shipbuilding said the industry would need a bolstering policy and encouraging support packages from the government to explore its huge export potentials.

The company will deliver six vessels to Mozambique soon and start building four ships this month for a German buyer. Ananda is the first Bangladeshi shipbuilder to go global handing over a 3,000-tonne to a Danish shipping line in May this year. It has secured export orders for 34 ships with a contract price of $373.50 million mostly from European market.

Western Marine and Hi-Speed, two other players in the business, are also working on a number of vessels.

Wartsila Bangladesh managing director Mohammad Shameem said the industry held huge potentials of export with more local value addition than many other export sectors. “We have huge local resources of high skills, which are the main strength of Bangladesh?s shipbuilding industry.” He said Bangladesh would certainly get more and more orders in the days to come since major Asian builders stopped accepting orders for vessels smaller than 20,000-tonne capacity.