Ananda to set up $300m shipyard in Chittagong to build big ships

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FHM Humayan Kabir
Leading shipbuilder Ananda Shipyard and Slipways said Saturday it would set up the country's largest shipyard to make jumbo-sized ocean-going vessels weighing over 100,000 dead-weight-tonnes.
The country's ship-making pioneer would invest over US$300 million over the next three years in a new facility in Chittagong to grab a major slice of the $400 billion global shipbuilding market, its chairman Abdullahel Bari told the FE.
"We have already acquired some land in Chittagong to set up the state-of-the-art shipyard. We want to start construc tion of the shipyard by end of this year," Bari, a Britain-train naval architect, said.
"We want to be a major ship-builder in the region so that we can compete with companies in South Korea, China, India and Vietnam for big and medium-sized vessels," he added.
Top South Korean conglomerates, namely Daewoo, Samsung and Hyundai dominate the global super ships market --- some of them costing more than one billion dollars a piece.
Chinese, Indian and Vietnamese companies have also invested heavily in new and upgraded facilities to break into the top manufacturers' club.
Ananda, which in 2007 put the country firmly in the global shipbuilding map, can build small ships weighing around 5,000-15,000 dwt at its existing Meghna-ghat shipyard, at a cutthroat price determined by their buyers.
Bari said the proposed new facility --- scheduled to be opened by 2012 --- would make his company capable of building 20 big container ships or tankers a year that would cost more than $100 million dollars apiece.
"At present, we compete in the small ship category. The prices of these ships fluctuate between five and 15 million dollars. You can't make much money by manufacturing smaller ships," he said.
"In case of big ships, the profit margin is far higher and you need the same amount of people required for building smaller vessels," he added.
Since 2007, Ananda has successfully bagged orders to make 28 ships at a total order price of over $350 million from European, African and Asian countries.
Bari said the proposed facility on the bank of the river Karnaphuli would enable the company to win orders worth a billion dollars, making shipbuilding a major export industry of the country.
"Many top ship owners in Europe have expressed their readiness to place orders for medium to large ships to us, as we offer cheaper prices than our competitors, thanks to abundance of cheap and skilled welders in the country," he said.
Ananda's latest move comes as top shipyards in the region embarked on a major expansion drive to win orders for bigger vessels.
State-owned Cochin Shipyard (CSL) of India last year expanded its slipways in Kerala to build ships weighing over 100,000 dwt, aiming to become the largest vessel maker in the Sub-continent.