Chittagong, 05 October, 2011: Western Marine, a leading shipyard in Bangladesh, participated in the workboat fair at Abu Dhabi.
The three-day fair that started from October 3 was organized by the Seatrade at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. The workboat operators, builders and equipment suppliers showcased their state-of-art maritime products and successful performances at the event titled ‘Middle East Workboat (MEWB) 2011 exhibition’.
It is the biggest trade fair in the Middle East region, which brings the entire global maritime sector under one roof. The Western Marine highlighted their quality shipbuilding performance and their successful achievement of series of vessels delivery to the local and European buyers at the event. Such participation by a Bangladeshi shipyard in the international arena is a matter of pride for the nation, a company official said.
Sources say more than 2,000 workboats are docked or repaired in the Middle East every year and the demand for workboats is growing. Therefore, huge opportunity lies in the Middle East for the emerging shipbuilding nations like Bangladesh.
In 2009, Western Marine had participated in the same exhibition. The number of exhibitors at the fair recorded an increase of 21 per cent this year compared to the 2009 event. Apart from regional exhibitors, Europe, Singapore and China also took part in the exhibition.
Chairman of Western Marine Saiful Islam said the shipyard’s expansion plan is in progress. Three new slipways have been developed in the yard to facilitate construction of workboats and small ships for Arab buyers; he said adding that the demand for workboats in the Arab world has encouraged it to develop further in its performance.
Managing Director Sakhawat Hossain who had represented for Western Marine at the exhibition said, “The exhibition was a great success for the organization. We had several meetings with a number of prospective buyers and deals have also been finalized with three clients”.
Western Marine was the only company to represent Bangladesh among more than 200 exhibitors from all over the world which took part at the exhibition.
