Bangladesh wins biggest newbuild contract

Bangladesh?s main shipbuilder, Ananda Shipyards Shipways Ltd (ASSL), has won a $100 million contract to build eight vessels, a deal seen as helping pave the way for the nation to emerge as a major shipbuilder. This is the country?s single biggest export order which was placed by two German companies earlier this month to build eight 325 TEU container ships for delivery by June 2010.

Bangladesh has become a new destination for companies seeking construction of small ocean-going vessels as traditional shipbuilding nations such as South

Korea and China now focus on building large ships. Schiffahrtskontor Tom Woden GmbH and Co and Ernst Komrowki Holding KG signed the deal with ASSL after inspecting its facilities on the river Meghna and failing to find any shipbuilder willing to construct ships for them in China.

A spokesman for ASL said the yard is convinced it can build ships and deliver them on time and plans to double its 700-strong workforce to fulfil the order. The company has invested heavily in equipment in the past few years and, with the new deal, has orders worth $125 million. It will hand over two ships to a Danish company by year-end and is in talks with a Dutch company to build 22 ships.

Announcement of the deal comes after Western Marine, another shipbuilder in the south-eastern port city of Chittagong, last week clinched an $11 million order to build a tug for a Singapore company. Riverine Bangladesh has been known for its small ferry-making industry since its independence in 1971. Most of the country?s nearly 3,000 ferries were made in the country?s shipyards.

Bangladesh?s more than a dozen shipbuilding yards employ some 20,000 workers but officials say they can ramp up production and manpower quickly. Expert said it was only a matter of time until Bangladesh emerges as a major hub for building small ocean-going ships. “The country has always had enough skilled and cheap work force. Now it has the know-how and facilities,” said C F Zaman, Bangladesh head of GL. “I can easily foresee local shipbuilding emerging as a billion-dollar industry in four to five years? time. It can easily be a global leader in the small-ship making industry.”