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Death and revival of Banglar Shourav

In the face of the rapidly unfolding horizon of shipbuilding — when orders worth Tk300 million are being already executed, and another Tk1 billion is in the offing — the successful sea trial of Banglar Shourav should wake us up to the reality that Bangladesh's export basket is going to be heavily impacted by the expansion of its shipbuild-ing/ship-repair capability.

Golam Kibria
The tanker was pronounced dead. It was awaiting its final carriage into the ship’s graveyard, the 20 km stretch of waterfront in Sitakundo, Chittagong, for scuttling and subsequent recycling. But it could not be done, as the carcass of the ship dug deep into the mud of the Gohira beach of Anwara, resisting unseating of its hull.
Wholesale theft progressed and the body of the ship was bared to full nakedness, removing all fixtures and fittings, including the manholes of the tanks. It was lying there, as an apple of many discords, while debates, discussions and investigations went on.
Banglar Shourav was built in Denmark, in the year 1987. It was a state-of-the-art ship, equipped with centralised cargo operations, remote ullage level gauges, remote valve operations from the control room, and centralised data processing for the cargo operation. The ship was brought to Bangladesh, brand new, and the Danish Guarantee Engineers accompanied it for one year for
smooth transfer of its operation and ownership to Bangladeshi counterparts. Since its purchase, Banglar Shourav provided good returns on investment to Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, until the day misfortune struck. On June 24 2006, a fatal explosion in the number 4 cargo tank shredded 500 tons of steel away, killing the chief officer and two other sea-farers, rendering it untenable. Subsequent indecision, and the delay in resolution of the stakes of
various parties involved, left it weathering in the sea-beach of Gohira, in Anwara, in the Bay of Bengal.
In the backdrop of a lose-lose scenario, when the death of the tanker was almost confirmed and its funeral was only a matter of time, a bold leadership evolved, a partnership between public and private entities, involving Karnaphuly Shipyard, BSC, and Chittagong Dry Dock Limited (CDDL), and the administration upstream, putting a chain of events into motion that culminated last week in successful revival of Banglar Shourav. On April 22, Banglar Shourav was taken out to sea for a trial operation, and was found fit for commissioning for operation thereafter.
At the time of very high steel price worldwide, this signifies a saving of Taka 200 crore, and a promise of smooth operation for next 15 years, accruing huge revenue.
Even Protection and Indemnity (P & I) club did not believe that such recovery was possible and, hence, it sold it out to BSC again, at scrap value of a mere Tk 4.2 crore, after paying an insurance to BSC ofTk 21 crore.
For the extremely uphill battle of putting the dead ship together, Karnaphuly Shipyard of
Chittagong made a dashing decision, giving a high bank guarantee against a contract based on "no cure no pay." It meant that if Karnaphuly did not succeed in bringing Banglar Shourav to life, it would not get paid a penny and, moreover, it would have to pay a penaltvto BSC.
CDDI played a vital role in facilitating the whole repair job. We do not know the fact that, amongst all the ship-building/ship repair facilities in Bangladesh, CDDL has the most capable infrastructure in terms of location, tonnage, and equipments. By rendering infrastructural facility to Karnaphuly for repair of Banglar Shourav, CDDL has proved its potential that may be employed in the upcoming shipbuilding boom ofBangladesh.
There are many lessons that need to be learnt from the destruction and revival of Banglar Shourav.
In going back to the explosion that wreaked havoc on board Banglar Shourav on June 24 of 2006 in Charlie Anchorage, it will be seen that gross violation of code of safe working practices resulted in the disaster. A cargo tank that carried highly flammable crude oil was being ventilated (gas-freeing operation) with an electric blower. It was similar to
striking a match in a petrol tank.
The incident should raise an alarm about the level of compliance and regulatory monitoring of maritime operations, for both ships as well as offshore and onshore petroleum facilities.
The second lesson is about the recovery management. When such an incident at all occurs, the decision-malting should be comprehensive, fast and objective in all levels of administration involved in the recovery process after the incident. After all, the ownership of any asset of the government belongs to each of the citizens of the nation.
The beaching of a ship in anticipation of its final demise leads to a lot of difficulty and extra expense.
By putting a totally dismembered Banglar Shourav together, the entrepreneurs and the government agencies have proved that we have huge shipbuilding/ship-repair potential.
In the face of the rapidly unfolding horizon of shipbuilding --when orders worth Tk300 million are being already executed, and another Tkl billion is in the offing — the successful sea trial of Banglar Shourav should wake us up to the reality that Bangladesh's export basket is going to be heavily impacted by the expansion of its shipbuilding/ship-repair capability.
Golam Kibna is a Marine Engneer. now working as Cou ntry Manger of Bureau Verras Cert tea ton.