BSC mulls establishing JV with Saif Powertec
Syful Islam | Tuesday, 17 January 2017
Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) will soon start negotiation with Saif Powertec for establishing a joint venture (JV) company, which will buy or charter mother vessels to carry crude fuel oil for Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), officials said.
In a recent letter, the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) gave go-ahead to a BSC plea seeking permission to start negotiation on signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the private sector company.
The BSC will have to take final approval for the MoU documents before inking the deal.
"We hope that it will be a good joint venture," BSC managing director H R Bhuiyan told the FE over telephone.
The BSC, having only a few age-old ships, had started two years back searching private sector companies for the partnership, but found no interested party before the latest development.
Mr Bhuiyan said the two sides will soon sit together to prepare and negotiate terms and conditions of the MoU. "The MoU will be signed once both sides find it win-win situation."
Presently, the corporation gets only the commission for chartering foreign vessels for BPC, which imports 1.3 million tonnes of crude oil annually.
"If the proposed JV can buy or hire vessels for crude oil transportation, it will earn good profit for us," he added.
Earlier in a proposal, Saif Powertec said that the BSC, a publicly listed company, will be able to make good profit and offer more dividends to its shareholders if it carries crude by its own mother vessels planned to be procured under the joint venture.
It will also help save hard-earned foreign currency which is now being paid to foreign vessel operators, it argued. When contacted, managing director of Saif Powertec Tarafder Ruhul Amin said: "We are expecting to sit soon for negotiation."
He said a draft of the proposed MoU has already been sent to the BSC. "The corporation is studying it before sitting with us for a formal negotiation," he said, expressing his hope about establishing the JV.
syful-islam@outlook.com