Shipbuilder Western Marine Shipyard Ltd (WMSL) is planning to restart export of ships after the company settled its financial and other administrative problems.
Accordingly the WMSL is preparing to export eight ships to a buyer inthe United Arab Emirates (UAE) by next year. The company last exported two large bulk carriers to Indian Jindal Steel Works.
It was in January 2020 that the shipbuilder last exported two large bulk carriers to Indian Jindal Steel Works in 2014, when shipbuilding and shipping business slumped in the global market.
The situation had worsened for the company due to conflicts among its directors and a massive amount of debt accruing with banks and financial institutions following the Covid pandemic, sources in the company said.
The shipbuilder is now hoping to make a comeback, as it signed a deal worth $7.3 million in 2023 with the UAE-based buyer, Marwan Shipping Ltd, for the construction of four landing craft vessels, two tugboats and two oil tankers.
Out of the eight vessels, the shipbuilder has completed building a 69-metre-long landing craft, named Rayan, WMSL Marine Managing Director Captain Sohail Hasan, he told a press briefing on the Western Cruise ship anchored at Chattogram Boat Club on Saturday. It will be handed over to the buyer by January, he added.
Of the rest, two high-powered tugboats named Khalid and Ghaya would be exported by April, said Hasan, adding that the remaining five vessels would be delivered gradually within 2025.
The MD said in 2017, WMSL exported a similar landing craft vessel to the same UAE-based buyer.
Western Marine entered into shipbuilding in 2000 and earned good reputation internationally. But the situation started to turn bad since 2014 following cancellation of several orders from foreign buyers.
In 2008, the shipbuilder signed a euro 94 million contract with German company Grona Shipping to build 12 ice class cargo vessels. Only four out of these 12 ships were delivered smoothly at its original price.
