Western Marine has inaugurated the construction work of one Ro-Ro ferry through a keel laying ceremony on the 28th of July 2013 in the shipyard premises located in Patiya. This is the second time Western Marine will be building a similar ferry for BIWTC. The ferry will operate in River Padma from Chandpur to Shariatpur.
In July 2011 Western Marine delivered the first Ro-Ro ferry to BIWTC called “Md. Ruhul Amin”. Today the ship operates from Charjanajat to Mawa. It was first time a Bangladeshi shipyard built & successfully delivered a Ro-Ro ferry for domestic use. Previously these ferries used to be imported from Denmark by the government of Bangladesh. To meet the crisis in the transportation sector the government has taken initiatives to procure more ferries to enhance the inland waterway transportation system of Bangladesh.
Western Marine was awarded this newbuilding order upon bidding the lowest price in an international tender. The contract price for newbuilding of this ship is around BDT 25 cr. One Bank Ltd will be the financial partner to Western Marine Shipyard in financing this project. The shipyard is scheduled to deliver the ferry within a period of 18 months. The 60meter long ferry will have a carrying capacity of 340 passengers & 27 trucks. She will be built under class Germanischer Lloyd (GL) & will be able to sail at a speed of 10 knots with 1.52m loaded draft, powered by two 750BHP main engines.
The Keel Laying took place in presence of shipyard Technical Director Mr. Arifur Rahman Khan, Addl. Chief Engineer & Project Director of BIWTC Mr. Abdur Rahim Talukder, Chief Engineer & Ship Surveyor of Department of Shipping Mr. Mirza Saifur Rahman and Surveyor of GL Bangladesh Mr. Ataur Rahman.
