Western Marine Shipyard has inaugurated the construction work of one Aluminum body catamaran type passenger ship for Tanzania through a keel laying ceremony on the 26th of Sep 2013. The ships will be having a capacity of carrying 300 passengers. It will be used by Tanzania Ministry of Transportation to transport passengers in the inland & coastal route of Tanzania. Western Marine received the work order for this new building project through a Danish company JGH Marine. This is the first time a local shipyard will be building an aluminum body ship for export market.
The ship will be 38m in length & it will be able to travel at a speed of 20knots. Catamaran ships are very safe for sea voyages & even more stable than other type of ships as they are specially designed with twin hull. Western Marine has built similar type of catamaran ship in the past which operates for Chittagong Boat Club. The ship will be built at a cost of BDT 25 crore & the shipyard expects to deliver it to her owner by mid of 2014.
Western Marine Managing Director Mr. Sakhawat Hossain said that this project will be a break for them in the market of Africa. He said like Tanzania many other countries in Africa are developing their infrastructure system & thus these countries are in need of various types of ships. The Chairman of the shipyard Mr. Saiful Islam said that this is a great news for the nation as this export order will add great value to our economy though foreign currency earning.
