Dutch Ambassador visits Western Marne Shipyard

Chittagong, 04 February 2013: The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands to Bangladesh H.E. Mr. Gerben de Jong has paid a goodwill visit to Western Marine Shipyard 04 February 2013 along with Ms. Monnujan Khanum-Advisor, Economic & Commercial Affairs, Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands it was the first visit of the Dutch Ambassador to the shipyard.

The Ambassador traveled to the shipyard by boat through the river Karnaphuli. The Ambassador praised the shipbuilding practice in Bangladesh while going through the river Karnafully the Shipyard Managing Director Mr. Sakhawat Hossain apprise him of the 2 (Two) new built vessels that anchorage in the river Karnaphuli and soon going to be delivered on 6th Feb 2013 to their European Owner’s, on their way the Managing Director of WMShL, Ambassador & Ms. Monnujan Khanum-Advisor, Director of WMShL & other officials visited the Ro-Ro Passenger Ship. During his visit the Ambassador expressed his deep appreciation.

The Ambassador also expressed in his speech that the Netherlands has always been a friendly country to Bangladesh; they could also transfer trade and technology, to open up new business scope. He also emphasized that he would act as an ambassador for Western Maine out the country to promote new trade, to transfer hi tech technology and training matters.

The Amabassador also said that he will bring other business entrepreneur to see the scope to the yard for new trade for further benefiting both the nations mutually and work out bilateral matters for the betterment of the Nation and as well the organization.

Shipyard Managing Director Mr. Sakhawat Hossain stated that Western Marine has completed the highest worth shipbuilding project in Bangladesh by delivering eight 5200DWT MPC Vessels to a German buyer.

Today these ships ply in the icy Baltic ocean in Europe. This has proven the quality of the shipyard & they expect more orders from the European market.

Western Marine inks deal for renovation of CPA Marine Workshop

Chittagong, 31 January 2013: Western Marine Services (WMS) signed agreement with Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) for renovation of port’s only workshop CPA Marine Workshop located near Barik Building, Agrabad. The contract was signed by port Chairman Rear Admiral Nizamuddin Ahmed & Western Marine Managing Director Engr. Sakhawat Hossain on behalf of their respective organization in presence CPA Member (Harbor Marine) Capt. M. Shahjahan, Member (Engineering) Capt. Zulfiqer Aziz, WMS Deputy Managing Director Engr. Abu Md. Fazle Rashid & Technical Director Engr. Mohammed Abdul Mobin.

The workshop stands over vast land with heavy facilities. Its development was planned in the year 1984 to serve Chittagong Port’s various utility ships for major & minor repair works and other industrial repairs relating to port activity. But before the project was completed it was abandoned due to certain government planning. Since then the facility remained utilized & most of its facilities including the 1200 & 50 tons capacity slipway are completely inactive & not in the state of operation.

After long 29 years the existing management of Chittagong Port has taken initiatives to restart the facility by going though full renovation of the workshops & slipways. The port called tender for the job in mid October 2012 & Western Marine Services was awarded the task upon bidding the lowest in the tender. The initiation of the workshop will enhance Chittagong Port’s capacity. It will make a contribution in our national economy because port vessels will not remain inactive anymore for any technical disorder.

Western Marine inks deal for building 110m luxurious cruise linear

Chittagong, 28 January 2013: Western Marine signed agreement with KR Shipping Ltd. for newbuilding of two highly luxurious cruise ship. The agreement was signed by Western Marine Managing Director Sakhawat Hossain & Managing Director of KR Shipping ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader on behalf of their respective organization on 23 January 2013.

This is for the first time cruise ship with all facilities of a 5 star hotel facilities will be introduced in the route of Dhaka to Barisal & Barisal to Potuakhali. They will travel at a maximum speed of 16 knots which will only take 7 seven hours to reach Potuakhali from Dhaka via Barisal. These ships will be 5 storied connected with elevators & escalators. It will have a total of 151 cabins including Presidential Suit, Semi-Presidential Suit, Star Executive Cabin & Executive Cabin. It will also have 1500 geared seats which could be unfolded to sleeping berths. Moreover among other facilities there will be swimming pool, helipad for emergency helicopter landing, hospital, business centre, ATM booths, 3 luxury restaurants, kids’ playing zone, prayer room & many more.

These ships will be having the carrying capacity of 1800 passengers. They will be 110M long & 18M broad, and only due to their unique design made by METACENTRE they will require a loaded draft of only 2M. 70 crew members will be required to operate the ship. These ships will be built under class & Western Marine Shipyard will initiate its construction soonest. Western Marine signed this newbuilding agreement with the buyer at a cost of more than BDT100cr each. This is the first time a local shipyard will be building such luxurious cruise ship. Western Marine has proven its proficiency in the past by delivering numerous ice class merchant ships to European buyers. Next month they tend to deliver a 50M car ferry & one 4100 DWT MPC ship to European buyer.

Western Marine Managing Director Sakhawat Hoosain received CIP status for 2012

Chittagong, 22 December 2012: Engineer Sakhawat Hossain, the Managing Director of Western Marine Shipyard was awarded Commercially Important Person (CIP) for 2012. He got the status in Large-scale Industry category considering his entrepreneurship to build industries, increase commodity production, creating employment, contribution to boost national income in the economy as whole. He was also awarded the same esteemed recognition in 2011. CIP status is the highest honor given by the government of Bangladesh to entrepreneurs & industrialists for their contribution to the economy. Under his guidance Western Marine Shipyard has already made a mark in the shipbuilding sector since 2000. This month he was also recognized as one of sixteen pride of Chittagong for his leadership in most potential business sector of the country.

Engineer Hossain graduated from Bangladesh Marine Academy in 1981 as a Marine Engineer. Later he acquired MEO Class-1 (Chief Engineer) from UK in 1989. He began his professional career with Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, subsequently served in different capacities in Singapore and Malaysia till 1993. He is also known as an elected council member of IMarEST, UK (2009-2011); chairperson of International Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB), Chittagong Chapter. He came up as an entrepreneur in 1994 by opening Western Marine Services (WMS) along with few other marine professionals as partner. Initially WMS used to provide ship service facilities. Eventually established Western Marine Shipyard in 2000.

Western Marine Shipyard is the leading shipbuilder in Bangladesh standing over 42 acres of land in the eastern bank of river Karnaphuli in Chittagong. It has created employment opportunity for 3500 people & more than five hundred professionals including engineers & technologists are involved. They shipyard came into limelight in recent years for export of ships in the international market. Newbuilding of various types of inland & coastal ships for the local market is in progress meeting the domestic demand & saving our hard earned foreign currency.

Western Marine to build passenger ship for BIWTC

Chittagong, 29 November 2012: Western Marine has inaugurated the construction work of two passenger vessels having the carrying capacity of 750 passengers (each ship) through a keel laying ceremony on the 29th of November 2012 in the shipyard premises located in Patiya. This is the first time passengers ships of this capacity will be built by a local shipbuilder. These ships will be operated by BIWTC in the inland route of Dhaka to Barisal.

The Shipping Minister, Mr. Shajahan Khan (MP) was the Chief Guest in the ceremony. As Special Guests Mr. Syed Monjurul Islam, Secretary In-Charge for Shipping Ministry; and Mr. Mojibor Rahman, Chairman of BIWTC were present in the occasion.

These ships will be serving the passengers in one of busiest river route in Bangladesh, Dhaka to Barisal. New building of these ships is an initiative by the government to enhance the inland waterway transportation system of Bangladesh. It is believed addition of these two ships will reduce this crisis of traffic congestion & people will be more interested in travelling by river routes.

Western Marine Managing Director, Sakhawat Hossain said this project is a challenge for Western Marine as the ships are to be delivered by September 2013. He also said, “in the past we had delivered many ships for government use on time, we will also be able to do the same this time if government can protect the brain drainage from our shipyard by preventing manning agencies from migration of our shipbuilding experts unlawfully.” He has also mentioned that cash flow is also very necessary although a crisis in the financial market has been observed recently.

The Chairman highlighted saying “earlier ships for our local use were imported from abroad spending our hard earned foreign currency. But now these ships are being built locally and Western Marine being a certified internationally standard shipyard, comply all the latest IMO rules of safety.” Therefore the ships being made by Western Marine will be less likely to cause pollution & disaster.

The Shipping Minister admired Western Marine for taking the challenge of completing the project by September 2013 which is a very short time. He even said the shipyard has proven their proficiency in the past by delivering ships on time. He mentioned on behalf of the government of Bangladesh the Shipping Ministry will provide all kind of support to the industry for successful completion of the project timely.

German Ambassador visits Western Marne Shipyard

Chittagong, 26 November 2012: The German Ambassador to Bangladesh, Dr. Albrecht Conze has visited Western Marine Shipyard Ltd. in Chittagong on 25 November 2012 to see the work progress & potentiality of the shipbuilding industry in Bangladesh.

During the visit he was accompanied by the German Honorary Consul in Chittagong Mr. Shakir Ispahani. This is his first visit to Chittagong as the Ambassador after taking charge as the new German Ambassador on August 2012.The prime cause of the visit was

Western Marine has also developed a Primary Health Care Centre (PHCC) in their yard premises which has been established with the joint collaboration of German Development Cooperation (GIZ) &, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MOHFW) .The Ambassador had also witnessed the smooth operation of the PHCC in the shipyard & admired the CSR activity of the yard as the PHCC is providing health service to 3,500 workforce of the shipyard & 30,000 people of the local community.

The Ambassador was highly impressed to see the shipbuilding activity in Western Marine. He emphasized on the industry saying that most of the exporters in Bangladesh mainly concentrate on consumer products; this means the foreign buyers will always have chances to fly to some other part of the world if they find the same product at a cheaper price in some other place. But shipbuilding is a heavy tech industry & it is persistent. Since Western Marine has proven their quality in the international market this emerging industry will remain steady in the long run & definitely they will have more business. He further said that Bangladesh is full of opportunities & the port city of Chittagong is geographically so much blessed that it could be used as a connecting hub all throughout the Asia.

The Chairman of the shipyard Mr. Saiful Islam highly appreciated this goodwill visit & hoped that the bilateral trade between Germany & Bangladesh will get even stronger from this visit.

Shipyard Managing Director Mr. Sakhawat Hossain stated that Western Marine has completed the highest worth shipbuilding project in Bangladesh by delivering eight 5200DWT MPC to a German buyer. Today these ships ply in the icy Baltic ocean in Europe. This has proven the quality of the shipyard & they expect more orders from the European market.

Western Marine Shipyard built dredger for Mongla Port Authority

Chittagong, 22 November 2012: Mongla Port Authority has inaugurated its first & new built dredger “CD Imam Bokhari” along with a crane boat “CB Balian” in Mongla Port on 21 November 2012. The dredger will be used to dredge the channel of Mongla Port in River Pashur ensuring the access of the inbound & outbound ships. These ships were inaugurated by the Chief Guest Shipping Minister Mr. Shajahan Khan. Khulna City Mayor, Mr. Talukder Abdul Khaleque was a Special Guest in the inauguration ceremony. Moreover the Managing Director of Western Marine, Mr. Sakhawat Hossain represented in the event on behalf of the shipbuilder. The Port Chairman Commodore M Abul Kalam Azad was the main host in the occasion.

CD Imam Bokhari is an 18 inch Cutter Suction Dredger which will be able to dredge upto 14m of depth & the CB Balian is a crane boat for the purpose of auxiliary use of the dredger having the crane capacity of SWL 5 tons at 3.0m radius. This project has cost BDT 34 cr approximately & the newbuilding project was financed by IFIC Bank. Since establishment of Mongla Port in 1950 this is the first time a dredger & a crane boat has been added in the fleet of the port. Mongla Port had been planning to procure a dredger since 1990 & through inauguration of Bokhari it came to be possible today. The port authority is hopeful that this dredger will enhance port facilities & the port capacity will rise. The port has also ordered two pilot dispatch boats for port use to Western Marine Shipyard; these ships’ construction is under process & will be delivered very soon.

Minister Shajahn Khan has said that Mongla Port will be upgraded in a very short time. The various initiatives taken by the government to meet the vision of 2021, the up-gradation of the ports in Bangladesh is a prime factor among those. The Minister also praised the activity of Western Marine. He said the ships that Western Marine is building for the domestic use is making a huge contribution in our economy. Western Marine has built numerous port use ships of various types. They are already building the highest capacity tugboat in Bangladesh & a water supply vessel for Chittagong Port Authority. But through delivery of this dredger & workboat, Mongla Port Authority has also been added as a top a top client of Western Marine.

The Managing Director of the shipyard said that the dredger has been delivered seven months earlier than the deadline, which is a great achievement of the yard. He also said this ship has been built by Western Marine jointly with the most renowned dredger manufacturer in the world IHC Merwede, Holland. He said Western Marine had formed a joint venture company as IHC-WMShL Ltd under the umbrella of Western Marine Shipyard which concentrates on building the best quality dredgers. Through technology transfer from IHC Merwede, Holland we will be able to meet the local demand by building dredges for domestic use & also export in the Asian market.

The Chairman of the shipyard Mr. Saiful Islam expressed his gratitude to Mongla Port & the Ministry of Shipping. He is happy as Western Marine built ships will be used by Mongla Port. He emphasized saying this tie between Mongla Port & the shipyard will continue to be stronger in the coming days by building more ships for the port.

Chittagong, 17 November 2012: ন্যাশনাল টেকনিক্যাল ভোকেশনাল কোয়ালিফিকেশন ফ্রেমওয়ার্কের (এনটিভিকিউএফ) অধীনে প্রথমবারের মত দক্ষতা ভিত্তিক প্রশিক্ষন এনসি লেভেল-১ ওয়েলডিং কোর্সের পাইলট প্রকল্প শুরু করেছে ওয়েষ্টার্ন মেরিটাইম ইনস্টিটিউট । গত ১৫ নভেম্বর সকাল ১১টায় নগরীর সাগরিকাস্থ ওয়েষ্টার্ন মেরিটাইম ইনস্টিটিউটে এক জমকালো অনুষ্ঠানের মধ্যদিয়ে এই পাইলট প্রকল্পের উদ্ধোধন করা হয় ।

ডিরেক্টরেট টেকনিক্যাল এডুকেশন (ডিটিই), বাংলাদেশ টেকনিক্যাল এডুকেশন বোর্ড (বিইটিবি) এবং ইন্টারন্যাশনাল লেবার অর্গানাইজেশন (আইএলও) এর যৌথ উদ্যোগে কম্পিটেন্সি বেইজ ট্রেনিং সিস্টেমের আওতায় দক্ষ কারিগর এবং দেশের জনশক্তিকে দক্ষ কর্মীবাহিনীতে রুপান্তর করে বিটিইবি কর্তৃক সার্টিফিকেশন সিস্টেমের আওতায় নিয়ে আসার লক্ষে এই কোর্স চালু করা হয় । ওয়েষ্টার্ন মেরিটাইম ইনস্টিটিউট (বিইটিবি) কর্তৃক রেজিস্টার্ড দেশের একমাত্র বেসরকারী প্রতিষ্ঠান যেখানে এই কম্পিটেন্সি বেইজ ট্রেনিং কোর্স চালু করা হয়েছে ।

অনুষ্ঠানে স্বগত বক্তব্য রাখেন ওয়েস্টার্ন মেরিটাইম ইনস্টিটিউটের ম্যানেজিং ডিরেক্টর জনাব মনজুর মোর্শেদ চৌধুরী । এছাড়া অনুষ্ঠানে অন্যান্যদের মধ্যে বক্তব্য দেন বাংলাদেশ কারিগরি শিক্ষা বোর্ডের চেয়ারম্যান অধ্যাপক মোহাম্মদ আবুল কাশেম, জাতীয় টিভিইটি সংস্কার প্রকল্পের পরিচালক জনাব মোহাম্মদ শাহজাহান মিঞা, আইএলও বাংলাদেশের প্রধান টেকনিক্যাল উপদেষ্টা জনাব আর্থার ই শেরস বিএমইটি এর পরিচালক জনাব খলিলুর রহমান এবং ইসি এনএসডিসি সদস্য জনাব মিখাইল আই ইসলাম ।

বক্তারা বলেন ওয়েস্টার্ন মেরিটাইম ইনস্টিটিউটের এই শিক্ষা কার্যক্রমে দেশের অদক্ষ ও আধা দক্ষ জনশক্তিকে দক্ষতা বৃদ্ধির মাধ্যমে স্বাবলম্বী করার পাশাপাশি দেশের উন্নতিতে অবদান । এসময় তারা এই প্রোগামকে সুষ্ঠভাবে সম্পন্ন করে ভবিষ্যতে আরো বড় পরিসরে নিয়ে যাওয়ার আশা প্রকাশ করেন ।

ওয়েস্টার্ন মেরিন শিপইয়ার্ডের পাবলিক রিলেশন ডেপুটি ম্যানেজার শাহেদুল বাশারের সঞ্চালনায় অনুষ্ঠানে আরো উপস্থিত ছিলেন ইনস্টিটিউটের প্রিন্সিপাল সৈয়দ খোরশেদুল আলম, ওয়েলডিং ট্রেডের কম্পিটেন্সি বেইজ ট্রেনিং প্রশিক্ষক মোহাম্মদ ইমরান চৌধুরী । এছাড়া ওয়েস্টার্ন মেরিন সার্ভিসেস লিমিটেডের কর্মকর্তা ওকর্মচারীবৃন্দ উপস্থিত ছিলেন ।

ফিতা কেটে ১০টি নতুন ওয়েলডিং বুথ উদ্বোধন করছেন অতিথিবৃন্দ

Western Marine revamped Friendship’s floating hospital ‘Rongdhonu’ launches

Chittagong, 14 November 2012: Western Marine Shipyard revamped Friendship’s floating hospital ‘Rongdhonu’ commences its operation today through its inauguration at Marine Workshop Ghat in the Chittagong port today.

The floating hospital ‘Rongdhonu’ ship has renovated by Western Marine, will provide valuable primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare to vulnerable and marginalized populations living in the remote, hard-to-reach area on the cost of Bangladesh and for emergency healthcare around the coastal areas of the region.

‘Rongdhonu,’ formulary known as Rainbow Warrior II, was a Greenpeace International’s vessel that has contribution greatly to modern history, having been an integral part of Green peace’s campaigns all around the world against nuclear testing, environmental crimes and whaling . Greenpeace International handed over the Rainbow Warrior II to Friendship, a non-government organization in Bangladesh, on 16 August last year in Singapore at a ceremony in order to converted it into a floating hospital.

Friendship provided the job to Western Marine to convert the vessel into a full fledge floating hospital on August 2011. Western Marine completed workmanship in the floating hospital and the ship’s accommodation area in one year.

Technical director of Western Marine Arifur Rahman Khan confirmed that all work has been carried out in compliance with International Maritime Organization (IMO) & Germanischer Lloyd (GL) class rules & guideline. This conversion work began in August 2011 with support from S.K. Foundation of Netherlands, Kadoorie Charitable Foundation of Hongkong, Cordaid of Netherlands and Friendship International Luxembourg.

Western Marine MD Sakhawat Hossain said, “Rongdhonu’ will serve for the general people of Bangladesh who actually need the healthcare services. We are happy to be a part of this noble effort.”

Friendship’s Founder and Executive Director Runa Khan said, “We always wanted to expand our regular healthcare activities to the southern region, and Rongdhonu will enable us to do exactly that. I am sure that Rangdhonu, through its operations will stay true to the spirit of the historical ship which it was converted.”

To Resolve Traffic Congestion We should emphasis on River transportation

Chittagong, 22 October 2012: International Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) Chittagong Chapter & BGEMEA Chittagong Region had arranged a seminar and discussion on “Traffic Congestion and its Solution by River Transpiration” in the port city on 21st Oct 2012.

Mr. Jon Danilowicz the Charge-de-Affairs of US Embassy in Bangladesh was the Chief Guest in the seminar and the event was moderated by the Chairperson of IBFB Chittagong Chapter Mr. Sakhawat Hossain and the Managing Director of German classification society “Germanischer Lloyd Bangladesh” A K M Masud Karim presented a brief keynote paper on this subject. Amongst others business personnel, industrialists & investors from various sectors were present in the seminar.

The key note speaker highlighted about the growing traffic density in our highways and major cities. He had presented statistics in the event showing Chittagong port has received approximately 15 lac TEUs of containers last year which is growing at a rate of 20% per annum. All these containers are being shifted to various destinations in the country by road which is the major cause for bad traffic in our highways.

This is could only be overcome if we transfer this overload from the highways to the river channels by transporting the containers by container ships. The government has already taken initiatives to improvise this major issue by developing Pangaon Inland Container Terminal and by issuing 32 container ship licenses. But this capacity to be enhanced as more ships will be required to increased trades in the coming years.

The IBFB Chittagong Chapter Chairperson Mr. Hossain emphasized saying people of this country loose 25% of their working life stuck in bad traffic. If this problem is resolved people could be more efficient and add more value to the country.

The Chief Guest Mr. Danilowicz said that Bangladesh is full of potentials but definitely there are challenges. He highly admired IBFB and BGMEA for organizing such seminar as challenges could be met upon discussion.

The founder President and former Mayor of Chittagong Mr. Mahamudul Islam Chowdhury mentioned IBFB is a body which has fought against corruption in various sectors. It has highly contributed in the economy and he is hopeful that IBFB will be able to draw a conclusion to this issue as well .The first Vice President of BGMEA Mr. Nasir Uddin concluded the seminar by thanking all for participating in the seminar.