Shipbuilders busy on riverbanks

With orders coming in for ships of various denominations, shipbuilders are happy despite the ravages caused by the corona pandemic. The sight and sound of iron hitting iron in numerous dockyards on the bank of the river Buriganga near Keraniganj and elsewhere turn out to be a spectacle that would surely lift up the morale of the people. A 100 feet long tanker with the capacity of 1.5 lakh litres of oil is being built there by local engineers and workers. And they have the recent memory of building ocean going vessels as well.

It is encouraging to note that the entrepreneurs of the country have started to finance local shipbuilders to build coastal ships, lighter ships, cargo ships, passenger ships and oil tankers and thereby helping the country to lessen dependence on imports.  It is no doubt a big leap from being labeled as a shipbreaking country only a couple of decades ago.

This has become possible as the capacity of the shipbuilders has increased in the last two decades and now they not only build heavy vessels but can also undertake the work of repairing local and foreign vessels. The shipbuilding industry now has activities going on throughout the year engaging about three lakh workers besides a number of marine engineers and other technical hands.

The annual market size of this sector is estimated to be between 1000 crore and 1200 crore. Therefore, local shipyards can expect to have more slices of the large pie in the near future. Understandably, since the work is mostly done outdoors, the weather remains an important factor for completion of the work in time. Inclement weather does cause unnecessary delay, which may upset a client.

This may be said here that shipbuilding is not a new or unique feature in Bangladesh. History tells us that Bengal had a glorious tradition of boat and ship building hundreds of years ago.  According to the European traveller Caesar Frederick, Chittagong was the hub of building ocean-going vessels in the mid 15th century. In the 17th century, the shipbuilders of Chittagong had built a complete fleet of war-boats for the Sultan of Turkey. During the Mughal period, Bengal was in the front rank in building ships and boats. And reportedly the British Navy used warships built at Chittagong in the famous Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

Shipbuilding is an important economic and industrial sector as the country has a 9000 sq km of territorial waters and 720 km long coastline. It has about 700 rivers crisscrossing the land thus creating 24000 km long inland waterways. Large wooden boats were the main modes of transporting goods from one inland port to another.  At the moment about 10,000 inland and coastal ships are plying all over the country, carrying over 90% of total oil product, 70% of cargo and 35% of passengers from one end to another on a regular basis. It is a labor intensive sector engaging over 150,000 skilled and semi-skilled workers in various capacities.

It is heartening to learn that all inland and coastal ships are constructed and repaired locally in Bangladeshi shipyards. In recent years and months, Bangladesh has successfully exported the first ocean going ship to a customer in Denmark. A report says that local shipyards are capable of making ships up to 10,000 DWT (deadweight tonnage) following client’s specifications.

While we are upbeat regarding the achievements of our local shipyards, some words of caution should also be uttered at the same time. Our dockyard owners must keep their eyes open for the level of environmental damage the work may cause and at the same time be careful about polluting the rivers. We understand a lot of waste products like grease, burnt oil, kerosene, used welding rods and other debris fall directly into the river which endanger marine life. Workers’ safety is another concern of ours that needs to be addressed by the employers.

We look forward to the steady growth of the shipbuilding industry so that it can become a major foreign currency earning source for the country.