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Shipping Corp wants to buy old vessel despite opposition

Jasim Uddin Khan
Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) is seeking to buy a 13-year old container ship at a cost of Tk 84 crore despite opposition from the Planning Commission that has warned BSC that it is unlikely to recoup its investment.
Moreover, the ship will not be allowed to enter any ports in European Union countries, where all BSC ships are already banned as the country’s merchant fleet lacks in fitness standards.
The BSC. which aims to finance the purchase out of its own funds, says the ship is needed to augment the organisation's capacity to transport goods on the Chittagong-Mongla-Singapore- route.
"The BSC board has approved the matter, and the corporation will open an international bid to pro-
cure a container ship soon after it gets the final nod from the next inter-ministerial meeting." Md Kamrul Alam Rabbani. Managing Director of BSC. said.
He said procuring a new ship is very time consuming and costly as international shipyards are not open for the next three to four years for new contracts, adding that the cost of a new ship would be around Tk 200 crore.
In response to die Planning Commission's objection, the Managing Director said. “BSC's operations cannot only be measured as a matter of profit and loss. Rather it is a matter of carrying government goods like petroleum products, rice and other imported items for which BSC needs to be capable."
The planning ministry rccendy commented that under the BSC proposal it would only earn Tk 8.26
crore a year by investing around Tk 84 crore.
"If the corporation invests the money to any bank it will be able to earn more profit dian operating such a ship." a planning ministry official said.
The corporation finalised the proposal as part of its efforts to build up a mixed fleet of 24 vessels with an aim to acquire 15 ships. This will include one second hand mother tanker. 8 second hand / new full cellular container vessels and 6 second hand multipurpose cargo vessels.
The BSC has suspended its regular liner service between Bangladesh/UK-Continent ports and the Africa service since 2000 as European ports refused to allow the Bangladeshi ships into its territory as the ships in the fleet lacked proper fitness.
"International Maritime Organization, the regulatory bodies in the European Union, ratified its shipping policies and set a very high standard for the vessels entering European ports. To conform with this high standard has become extremely difficult for the ship owners of an aged traditional liner vessel," a high official of the corporation said.
BSC has also suspended its liner service on Bangladesh -Japan route since 1998 due to scarcity of export cargo from Bangladesh to Far East.
BSC is currently operating on Chittagong-Singapore-Port Klang (Malaysia)-Chittagong (Fortnightly sailing), Chittagong-Colombo (Sri Lanka)-Chittagong (Fortnightly sailing] and and Chittagong Port of Tanjung Pelapas (Malaysia)-Chittagong (Occasional sailing] routes.