BSC rejoinder, our reply

FE Team | Published: July 09, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) has clarified a few pieces of information in a news item published in The Financial Express in the July-1st issue under the headline 'BSC buying vessels at higher prices'.
The clarification issued by BSC's general manager (administration) said the BSC signed contract for procurement of bulk carriers of 39,000 DWT each at a cost of US$25.30 million. The report had mentioned that BSC was buying each bulk carrier of 36,000 DWT at $27 million
It said the price of a ship does not only depend on its size. Its machinery, equipment, building shipyard, classification society, payment terms, and financing arrangement are also good factors to be considered in fixing the price. Moreover, all machinery and equipment are more or less same and similar in these types and sizes of ships. For increase of size by about 20,000 DWT there should not be much difference of price. Sri Lanka has ordered the ships at $10 million higher than BSC's price.
It also mentioned that the Chinese government is financing the procurement with very low-rate interest and long repayment period.
The BSC further mentioned that the initially-selected shipyard was changed considering the availability of modern facilities of a new shipyard and also for some other administrative and technical reasons. The newly selected shipyard is also internationally famous and certified by the classification society 'Lloyds Register'.
Four cranes for each bulk carrier were finally selected considering the technical performance and space availability on the deck but at the same to enhance the overall lifting capacity, capability of one crane has been increased, it also said.
"No major change or amendment has been made or compromised in ship specifications," said the corporation to corroborate its buys.
Our Reply: Talking to the local shipbuilders and experts this FE correspondent found that size of vessel is also a factor in its pricing. The difference in size between the BSC-ordered vessel and Sri Lankan one is 25,000 DWT. Vessel capacity of carrying goods depends on their size.
It is clear that BSC's said vessels will be able to carry much lower volume of goods than Sri Lankan one. So, anyone can raise question easily as to how commercially viable the BSC vessels will be after buying those at higher prices.