Chittagong, March 06, 2012: Bangladesh is set to start making hydraulic machinery for vessels, including ships, in a bid to reduce import dependence and to export in future.
Local firm Western Fishers Shipyard Ltd (WFSL) and its Danish partners DanSea and AS Scan inked a deal in this regard Monday (March 05, 2012), marking the formation of a joint venture — Scan Machinery BD Ltd.
A Rouf Chowdhury, chairman of WFSL and Lars Jensen of DanSea signing the deal on behalf of own organization. There also present Danish Ambassador Svend Olling, Director of Scan Machinery Mr. Amanullah Chy, Managing Director of Western Marine Shipyard & Western Fishers Shipyard Mr. Md Sakhawat Hossain, Chairman of Western Marine Shipyard & Director of Western Fishers Shipyard Mr. Saiful Islam, Mr. Karsten Olesen, Mr. Claus Larsen and Director of sea Resource Group (Coordination) Major (Ret.) Fatah.
The new company will make hydraulic machinery ranging from steering gears to winches, net drums, propellers and nozzles.
“With the foundation of Scan Machinery BD Ltd, Bangladeshi vessel operators and shipbuilders can in future be serviced from Karnaphuli in Chittagong instead of outsourcing all hydraulic tasks overseas,” said a press statement yesterday.
A Rouf Chowdhury, chairman of WFSL, will also head the new company as its chairman. Lars Jensen of DanSea is the managing director of the 50:50 joint ventures. On the technical side Director Mr. Karsten Olesen (AS Scan) together with Danish Chief Technical Advisor Mr. Claus Larsen (AS Scan) will head overall engineering, and day-to-day supervision and training of the staff in Chittagong.
Supported by Danish International Development Agency’s business partnership programme, the company aims to supply hydraulic systems to vessels including deep-sea fishing trawlers, oil tankers, ferries and domestic and export oriented ships.
Currently builders of ships and other vessels depend on importing hydraulic systems from Europe as there is no manufacturing facility in Bangladesh.
The company will provide onboard installation and after-sales services, said the statement. Scan Machinery looks to contribute to merchant vessels building in Bangladesh for supplying abroad, said its MD Lars Jensen. The company aims to begin supplying hydraulic systems to vessels builders by July this year, said Md Sakhawat Hossain, managing director of Western Marine Shipyard Ltd, a partner WFSL. “We don’t want to limit ourselves to Bangladesh only. In future, we want to secure export orders not only from Asian market and but also from Europe,” said Hossain. The company will initially invest $1 million, he said.
