From warships to container vessels, Khulna shipyard makes it all

The Khulna shipyard was drowning in debt, on the brink of closure. But it has done a complete u-turn, manufacturing warships and now modern container vessels.

Khulna shipyard's success story is phenomenal. This 57-yrar-old institution had been on a steady downslide and was declared a sick industry. It had a debt of Tk 933.7milion. But things have changed. Over the last three fiscals it has been recognised as the highest taxpayer in the Khulna region.

On 3 October 1999 the Bangladesh Navy was given charge of the shipyard. Within 2008 all the debts had been paid and since then it has been counting profits. In 2010 the Khulna shipyard built 10 warships for the navy. The warships were handed over to the navy in 2013 and now the yard is building container vessels.

This ship-building and repairing company on the banks of Khulna's river Rupsha, is now bursting with activity. Alongside repairing all sorts of vessels, now four container vessels and two cargo-cum-container vessels are being built.

They have also recently signed a deal with Bangladesh Navy to make two more warships. Financially speaking, this is the largest project in the history of Bangladesh's ship-building industry.

Commodore S Irshad Ahmed, managing director of the company, says that building container vessels in Bangladesh began at the Khulna shipyard, just as did the making of warships.

It is presently making to container vessels for the Navy's Naval Foundation. Each vessel has a capacity to carry 140 20-ft containers. Each vessel is 75 metres in length, 13.5 metres is width, four metres from the water level to the bottom and can travel at 10 nautical miles per hour. The project cost is estimated at Tk 780 million. The vessels will have handed over to the authorities in June next year. The vessel design has been approved by Japan's Nippon Kaiziki Kyokai, the institute for international standards in ship building.

On 24 October Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan inaugurated the building of two container vessels for BIWTC at this shipyard. The vessels will each have the capacity to carry 15820-ft containers. They each measure 76 metres in length, 15 metres in width and can travel at 10 nautical miles per hour. Norway's Bureau Veritas has approved of the vessel designs. The project is for 22 months and the costs are over Tk 750 million.

In the meantime, Commodore Irshad Ahmed says, two cargo vessels which were being built at the yard over the past two years are now being converted into container vessels. He says all the vessels make her are built in accordance to the classification society.

Irshad Ahmed said work will begin in the next couple of months on the building of two more warships for the navy. This is the biggest shipbuilding project of Bangladesh in financial terms.

Back in business: While industrial units in Khulna have been shutting down one after the other, this sudden success of Khulna shipyard is an exception. In the 2012-13 fiscal its net profit was over Tk 400 million. In 2013-14 this has reached nearly 480 million taka. The officials are hoping the profits will exceed 500 million taka in the next fiscal. Its annual transactions have gone up by 15 times in 14 years.

The company's managing director told Prothom Alo that the tireless efforts of the officers, employees and workers of the yard since it was taken over by the navy has led to this success. The salaries and benefits of all the staff is being met by the income generated by the company itself.