After a long four-year export ban, Bangladesh’s leading shipbuilder Western Marine Shipyard will export at least 8 ships in the next 14 months, of which three will go to the United Arab Emirates. This is also a significant moment for Bangladesh, as the country will export its first ship after two years. The country’s last ship was exported in September 2022.
According to company sources, Western Marine Shipyard will export a landing craft ship named “Rayan” to the United Arab Emirates next month. After that, the company will export two more landing craft ships in July and another in December.
The company’s managing director, Captain Sohel Hasan, said that Western Marine Shipyard plans to export five more ships at different times between 2025-2026.
After that, they plan to export two tugboats “Khalid” and “Ghaya” to the United Arab Emirates.
Later, two oil tanker ships will be exported in February 2026. The company has already started construction of the ship after receiving purchase orders from the buyer.
In addition, Western Marine Shipyard will hand over two passenger ships “MV Rupsha” and “MV Sugandha” to the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTA).
Western Marine Shipyard exported 31 ships between 2010 and 2017. At the same time, the company built 50 vessels including container ships, oil tankers, tugboats for domestic buyers.
However, the company’s exports decreased when the global economic recession began in 2019 due to the Corona pandemic. Although it exported two bulk carrier ships in 2020, it has not exported any large ships in the last four years.
According to the National Board of Revenue, no ships have been exported from Bangladesh in the last two years. The last time in September 2022, Ananda Shipyard in Narayanganj exported a ship to Denmark. There have been no more exports since then.
Western Marine Shipyard of Chittagong entered the shipbuilding industry in 2000 as the shipbuilding sector in Bangladesh was considered promising. Over the past two decades, the company has built more than 150 ships of various types, including cargo ships, passenger ships, multipurpose ice-class vessels, landing craft, offshore patrol vessels, tugboats, fishing vessels, bulk carriers, and container carriers.