The export basket of Bangladesh is very limited where ready-made garments alone account for nearly 80 percent of its total exports. The extreme dependence of export earnings on the ready-made garments may pose serious threats in the near future. Thus, product diversification is necessary in that case shipbuilding could be a new horizon. The giant ship building nations such as Korea, Japan, China, and Vietnam have been booked with large orders for the next ten years. Some countries have already announced that they will not go for building ships less than 25,000
DWT (Dead Weight Tonnage). This opens up an opportunity for Bangladesh. If Bangladesh could nurture this opportunity with a helping hand from the government, as well as from other quarters, it could be the second largest export earning industry after ready-made garments within less than 10 years. But the shipbuilding industry of
Bangladesh currently faces several problems such as high rate of bank guarantee, lack of working capital with low interest rate, lack of availability of land on river banks to build shipyards, etc., which should be solved on a priority basis to get results early from this industry.
Bangladesh is a land of rivers and shipbuilding is synonymous with Bangladesh. Thousands of locallybuilt ships ply its inland waters. Almost 90 percent of petroleum and food products and 20 percent of passengers move through the waterways which has created the opportunity to build and use these water vessels here. Historically Bangladesh has a ship building infrastructure.
Shipbuilding in Bangladesh is not new but the rise of export-oriented shipbuilding industry is. With the first export order for building ocean going vessel secured by Ananda Shipyards and Slipways Ltd. and the keel-laying of first export order ship on 22nd
February, 2006, the real era of building export oriented ocean going vessel began in Bangladesh. It could be the golden opportunity for Bangladesh if the opportunity can be exploited with a robust helping hand from the government and other stakeholders.
At present, Bangladesh is looking for the market for small ocean-faring vessels less than 25,000 DWT.
The global market for the small ocean-faring vessels is now estimated to be $ 400 billion annually although some estimates place this figure at only $
200 billion. Major shipyards of the world can meet
75% of the total demand. If Bangladesh could achieve 4% market share of the surplus demand, which is $100 billion (25% of $ 400 billion), it could earn $4 billion annually.
This paper describes the present situation of shipbuilding. It explores the benefits that can be derived from it; with government support such benefits could be maximized. This paper examines the problems faced by the shipbuilding industry and suggests ways to overcome them.
Research Methodology
The research was begun by conducting a literature review, mostly through information available on the internet. After acquiring the background material and a basic understanding of the industry, separate questionnaires were drafted for the Bangladesh
Shipbuilders’ Association and for the two main export-oriented shipbuilders to elicit the necessary data. In addition, interviews were conducted with relevant parties. Interview with the managing director of
Western Marine Shipyard Ltd. was conducted at
BFTI premise. Earlier, Shipyard of Western Marine
Ltd. in Chittagong was visited. The Shipyard of
Ananda Group was also visited and interview with its chairman was held at the organization’s head office.
Mr. Omar Faruq, Director of Export Promotion
Bureau of Bangladesh, responsible for shipping matters, was also interviewed.
Responses were received from Western Marine and
Ananda Group and were analyzed along with information obtained during the interviews to determine the medium and long-term potential of the industry. Global Scenario of Shipbuilding
Major Shipbuilding Countries of the World
At present, the shipbuilding industry is dominated by
Japanese and Korean shipyards which together
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Figure 1: Major Shipbuilding Countries of the World
Source: KOSHIPA, http://www.equitymaster.com/detail.asp?date=2/15/2007&story=1.
Figure 2: Global Shipbuilding Order Book and Deliveries (in million DWT)
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016
Source: Clarkson’s data, KPMG Analysis accounted for 73% of the total world output in 2005.
China has gained 13.5% of the world market share, with the European Union at 7%.1 Bangladesh currently has a market share of less than 0.1%.2
Figure 1 shows that Korea is occupying 1st position while Japan and China are occupying 2nd and 3rd place in shipbuilding at present (2005). In 1985,
Japan was No. 1 in building ships, but over time the industry has moved from high labor cost countries to low labor cost countries.
Changes in the International Arena
Shift in Demand
The shipbuilding industry has historically witnessed a strong growth in demand for new vessels. There were short term peaks and troughs but, overall, the sector has shown a healthy rising trend in demand.
From the latest trends it is found that the demand for shipbuilding is reaching a short-term peak. It is
37
Figure 3: Share of Different Countries in Deliveries with the passage of time
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
England Other
Europe
Japan China USA S. Korea Others
1950
1965
1980
1995
2005
Source: www.shipbuildinghistory.com, KPMG Analysis estimated that the shipbuilding market would stabilize by 2012; after that the demand would return to its material growth rate over the long-term.
Deliveries would increase as well as the order book, and the ratio between them would remain at historical levels (Figure-2).
This unparalleled growth was due to a distinctive situation where several drivers played a vital role. .
The key drivers responsible for this unique growth in demand include increase of global seaborne trade; replacement of aged fleet; conversion of single-hull tankers, and demand for large-sized ships.
Shift in Supply Bases
Supply bases have shifted to new destinations driven by supply constraints and cost advantages and other factors. The industry has changed supply bases to low cost destinations in the last century. New countries have emerged, especially during boom periods. England and US were the world leaders till 1950 (Fig.3). Japan and Korea emerged as leading shipbuilding nations during the 1950s and
1970s. The current boom has brought China to the forefront. Korea, Japan and China account for more than 85 percent of world deliveries at present. The production of small ocean-going vessels and vessels that are not very complex are moving to newer destinations given the relative ease in their manufacture and low cost. The current order book of Korea and Europe is tilted towards complex vessels such as container ships and cruise vessels, while that of the emerging nations and China is dominated by bulk vessels. Emerging nations have therefore started with bulk orders and might gradually move up the value chain with experience. Capacity constraints in leading countries and lower shipbuilding costs in the emerging nations are the main drivers for such shifts in shipbuilding bases.
The lower cost comes from the cheap labor cost and
Government support in the form of direct/indirect subsidy to reduce shipbuilders’ costs or export buyers credit to reduce ship buyers’ costs. Countries such as
Vietnam and India are enjoying these economic advantages (lower cost advantages) which are helping them to emerge as shipbuilding nations.
Shipbuilding Industry and Bangladesh
R.I.S.Q
The basic requirement for any shipbuilding industry is R.I.S.Q where,
R = Riverine Country
I = Infrastructure
S = Skilled Manpower
Q = Quality Management System
All of the above basic requirements for a shipbuilding industry are available in Bangladesh.
History of Shipbuilding in Bangladesh
Bangladesh has a rich history of building ships. It is
38
Source: Ananda Shipyard & Slipways Ltd. found from the writings of travelers to Bengal referring to Chittagong as the centre, building oceangoing vessels. By the beginning of the 19th century
Chittagong was building ships up to 1,000 tons.
These ships were used by the British Navy in the
Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, while some of the current shipbuilders have indicated that some of the
Portuguese and Dutch discoverers of the 15th and
16th century returned to Europe from Asia using
Bangladeshi-built ships.3 However, the industry started waning due to the emergence of steam engines and other factors, including protection granted by the colonial power to their own shipbuilding industries.
Shipbuilding in Bangladesh did not vanish, but retreated to focus on local demand and today there are about 300 small and large dockyards, generating about 100,000 jobs. Shipbuilding in Bangladesh therefore refocused and essentially delivered vessels for use on its inland waterways and within the coastal zones of Bangladesh only, i.e. ships that did not have to be approved for use in international waters.
Bangladesh, through the company, Highspeed, delivered eight vessels for use by the Food and
Agricultural Organization (FAO) to Rome, Italy at the turn of the millennium. These 2,900 DWT vessels were used for shipping in coastal waters.
Bangladesh has a history of building a diverseset of vessels although all of them were not up to the international standard. These include container vessels, tourist vessels, Ro-Ro ferries, dredging barges, landing crafts, tug boats, passenger vessels, speed boats, deep sea trawlers, pilot vessels, hydrographic survey boats, buoy tender vessels, hospital vessels, tankers, dry cargo vessels, etc.
Current Export Oriented Shipbuilding Industry of
Bangladesh
Bangladesh has approximately 300 different shipyards building anything from small wooden boats such as ghhugis, podis and sampans to tankers, barges and ferries for inland use and trawlers
And other boats for use in coastal waters. But exportoriented shipbuilders in Bangladesh are few.
Actually, the first export order for building an ocean going vessel secured by Ananda Shipyards and
Slipways Ltd. in 2006 started the real era of building export-oriented ocean going vessels in Bangladesh.
Currently two Bangladeshi Shipbuilders build ships for export or have the capacity to build ocean-going ships: a) Ananda Shipyard and Slipways Ltd. and
b) Western Marine Shipyard Ltd.
Ananda Shipyard and Slipways Ltd: In terms of executing orders and volume of orders, Ananda is by far the more advanced company and number one in
Bangladesh. The head office of this shipbuilding company is situated in Noyapaltan of Dhaka and the shipyard is situated on Meghnaghat of Narayanganj.
Ananda entered into a contract with Stella of
Denmark to deliver a number of vessels in the 4,100
DWT range and the first of these, the Stella Maris, was handed over to the its owner on 15th May, 2008.
The second ship, the Stella Moon was also delivered to the buyer on 3rd April 2010. The company is now building four 6100 DWT ships and six 5500 DWT ships for buyers in Germany, Netherlands and
Denmark. The total export order of the company currently is shown in the table below:
Western Marine Shipyard Ltd.: Western Marine
Shipyard Ltd. is the other company building ships to meet export demand. The head office of the company is situated in Agrabad, Chittagong and its shipyard is situated in Kolagaon, Patiya of Chittagong. In 2007,
Western Marine received the “World Maritime Day
Award 2007” in recognition of its contribution to the ship building industry in Bangladesh. They delivered ten coastal vessels to buyers in China and Finland.
They have invested Tk. 20 million in their shipyard to build export oriented ships. At present, the company is building 20 ships of 5,200 DWT for the buyers of Germany, Denmark, Libya and Pakistan.
The export orders with the number of ships are shown in the following table:
Table 1: Export Order of Ananda4
Particulars Amount in USD
Million
On going 108
On hold (Signing completed) 142
Total 250
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Table 2: Export Order of Western Marine5
Buyers No. Total Amount in
USD Million
German 12
170
Denmark
5
Pakistan
2
Libya
1
Source: Western Marine Shipyard Ltd.
Hence, the total export order received by the shipbuilding industry of Bangladesh is $420 million6
Potential Export Oriented Shipbuilding
Organization of Bangladesh
Some ten companies have been identified who are shaping up to enter the export oriented shipbuilding industry at present. Among these, the following are notable: • The Meghna Group recently signed a US$35 million deal with South Korean shipbuilding giant STX to build the country's largest shipyard with all modern facilities. According to its chairman a total of over $100 million will be invested over a period of two years, although other sources have placed the investment at Tk.
220 crores (approximately $30 million). The company will have the capacity to build ships up to 25,000 DWT and is situated on 33 acres of land (approximately 133,500m2) on the Meghna
River. The Meghna Group is also contemplating setting up a steel plant that could meet the requirements of the shipbuilding industry.
• Dockyard & Engineering Works Limited
(DEWL) is the country’s oldest shipbuilder and is currently run by the Bangladesh Navy. It has already made a decision to develop its existing infrastructure to international standards to lure export orders from overseas buyers. DEWL is situated on 22 acres (approximately 89,000 m2) of land at Sonakanda in Narayanganj district on the banks of the Sitalakhya River. Currently, it has the building facility of Ro-Ro ferries, tugboats, inland and coastal vessels. DEWL plans to install capacity to build ships up to
8,000 DWT.
• Rangs Group is in the process of setting up Desh
Shipbuilding at a cost of Tk. 100 crores
(approximately $13.5 million) in Sadar Ghat in
Chittagong.
• Meghna Ghat-based Khan Brothers has invested around Tk. 16 crores (approximately $2.1 million) to develop a shipbuilding infrastructure at Gazaria in Munshiganj near the Meghna
Bridge outside of Dhaka.
• Bengal Electric has acquired approximately 50 acres (202,000 m2) of land in Munshiganj to start shipbuilding for export.
• Khulna Shipyard Ltd (KSY) is a commercial enterprise of Bangladesh Navy. Over the years, it has been developed into a leading local ship building and repair organization. As the shipyard already has shipbuilding infrastructure so it will be easy to transform it into ocean-going export oriented shipbuilding organization.
Rise of Export Oriented Shipbuilding Industry in
Bangladesh
Changes in the international arena
During the first three decades following World War
II, most shipbuilding took place in Europe and Japan.
Over the last two decades of the 20th century, shipbuilding started to move away from Europe towards lower cost countries in Asia, notably Korea, with China also entering the market in the last decade. India, Indonesia and Vietnam also entered the shipbuilding industry during the last decade.
Owing to the high cost of skilled labour and the relatively higher cost of labour in the overall cost structure of smaller ships vis-á-vis larger ships, some of these Asian Builders have started to move away from building small ocean-going vessels to the larger and more profitable vessels.