Supply and demand
are the fundamental variables that indicate which markets and industries are
prime for growth. As markets shift, countries are always looking for new niche
markets to dominate with their exports. Bangladesh, which has typically been
known for ship demolition, is now changing its primary industry to ship
building. According to the Asia Times:
“Bangladesh’s 124
shipyards, with more than 100,000 skilled and 150,000 semi-skilled workers, can
easily secure a substantial share of the global small shipbuilding market,
according to a World Bank study published in March.
If the country can
capture even 1% of the $167 billion global shipbuilding market, ‘exports will
be worth $1.6 billion’, the World Bank noted earlier this year. Total export
orders can easily exceed a billion dollars within a year or two ‘if we succeed
in maintaining our present momentum despite the worldwide economical turmoil’,
Mohammad Shahidul Bashar, public relations deputy manager at Western Marine,
told Asia Times Online. The industry at present has orders to build 42 ships
worth around $600 million, he said.
Export earnings
from ships, boats and floating structures rose to $40.4 million in the 12
months to last June from $12.7 million in the year to June 2009, according to
the Export Promotion Bureau. The latest tax incentive comes after a dip in
exports to $9.3 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year.”
“The shipbuilding
industry could become the country’s third-largest foreign exchange earner in
less than 10 years if the government provided support relating to bank
guarantees and declares export-oriented shipyards as export-processing zones,
the Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute says. The country’s exports are
dominated by textiles and ready-made garments, at around 70% of value.”
The Association of
Export-Oriented Shipbuilding Industries has for the past three years been
urging the government to ease taxes to make the industry more competitive.
Association president Abdullahel Bari, in a written proposal to the government,
earlier forecast that global ship manufacturing capacity would rise to 10,000
vessels by 2015 from 7,500 at present and that "the traditional
shipbuilders will come to new builders like Bangladesh in the coming years to
meet the rising demand".
Present buyers of
Bangladesh-made vessels come from as far afield as Europe and Africa. On March
21, German buyer Grona Shipping took possession of the last two of eight 5,200
deadweight tonnage (DWT) ice-class cargo vessels ordered from Western Marine.
Each vessel was sold at $9.74 million.
Western Marine has
also delivered six vessels to buyers from Denmark, Pakistan and Finland, said
Bashar. "The shipyard has also built more than 60 ships including ferries,
tankers, cargo vessels and dredgers for coastal and inland use in Bangladesh,"
he said.
Ananda Shipyard and
Slipways (ASSL) in April handed over the $12 million Enzian, a 6,100 DWT
multi-purpose ship, to German's Komrowski Maritim. ASSL has also sold
ocean-going vessels to buyers from Germany, Denmark and Mozambique. Other local
shipbuilders winning international orders include Highspeed Shipbuilding, Dhaka
Dockyard and Engineering Works, Khan Brothers Shipbuilding and Karnaphuli
Shipyard.
Bangladesh is
historically noted for its shipbreaking industry, which competes with India,
China and Pakistan to be the world's largest, but it appears unlikely that the
steel garnered from old hulks will make its way into new vessels destined for
the world's oceans.
"Ships built
for foreign buyers and even local owners comply with a set of standard
guidelines set by the International Maritime Organization [IMO]," said
Bashar of Western Marine. "Classification societies work under the IMO to
monitor each new building project. Therefore all machinery and equipment used
and installed in new building must be class approved. According to this, parts
from expired ships are not permissible."
Source: Business
Insider. By Simon Black. 4 June 2012
http://www.businessinsider.com/boats-will-keep-bangladesh-afloat-2012-6
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