Prospects of Shipbuilding Industry in Bangladesh

Prospects of shipbuilding industry in Bangladesh

Shipbuilding is a promising industry for Bangladesh. Already a few countries have made contracts with Bangladesh and they are placing orders on a regular basis. Denmark, Germany, Japan have already given orders to us and they are highly interested to merge with this sector.

Denmark embassy in Bangladesh made a study on this sector and they said that shipbuilding in Bangladesh is 15 percent cheaper than china! This is only possible because of the availability of cheap labour here, and existence of friendly environment and relax government regulatory requirements. Definitely, all these will make Bangladesh a prime ship builder’s country in near futute. A high-power taskforce should be formed to ensure security measures in the shipyards, and of course safety should be the topmost priority. Safety and quality are the main resources to expand a new industry. I believe Bangladesh has that capacity to become a standard ship manufacturing country.

According to a Danish study, existing labour cost in Bangladesh on an average is around US$ 1.5 dollar per hour which is US$ 3 in China, US$ 8 in South Korea, US$ 16 in Italy and US$ 18 in the United States. However, with only cheap labour cost an industry cannot stand on a strong footing. Manufacturing processes, world class quality, meeting safety and regulatory requirements are also important for any industry. Bangladesh can supply 10 percent of components for building an exportable ship and 40 percent for domestic demand. The study also said that the value of the local items could easily raise 70 percent. The study also mentioned that this private sector has already fetched half a million US dollars.

Among 200 shipyards in Bangladesh there are four companies who can make ship maintaining international standards. Already they did it successfully. There are a few more companies who are preparing themselves to make them internationally fitted. The study put other...