BSC to dispose of 2 vessels, procure one container feeder
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Chittagong Office
CHITTAGONG, Dec 19: Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) has finally got the nod to procure one container feeder vessel after long 18 years.
The approval for procurement of the feeder vessel was made in the board meeting of the BSC in Chittagong with Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan in the chair. Presently there is no container feeder in the BSC fleet.
The board meeting also approved disposal of two age-old general cargo vessels MV Banglar Urmi and MV Banglar Gourab procured in 1982 and 1984 respectively.
The meeting was attended by Shipping Secretary Abdul Mannan Hawladar, Managing Director of the BSC Ali Mostafa Chowdhury and three executive directors - Golam Moula, Mostafa Kamaluddin and Md Saifullah.
The decision to sell off two vessels and to procure a container feeder vessel was taken in the year 2005 but it could not be implemented in the last four years due to bureaucratic tangles in the ministry, sources in the BSC said.
The sources said the new container feeder to be procured from the sale proceeds of the older ones would be of 700 to 750 TEUs capacity.
The estimated cost of the proposed container feeder has been fixed at Tk 840 million (84 crore) under the existing public procurement rules (PPR) for which the BSC will have to seek financial help from the government in spite of selling off two old vessels.
"The plight of the BSC is so fragile and it is running short of fund due to successive net loss from 1982-83 to 2003-04 except 2/3 years," a senior official favouring anonymity told the FE.
CHITTAGONG, Dec 19: Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) has finally got the nod to procure one container feeder vessel after long 18 years.
The approval for procurement of the feeder vessel was made in the board meeting of the BSC in Chittagong with Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan in the chair. Presently there is no container feeder in the BSC fleet.
The board meeting also approved disposal of two age-old general cargo vessels MV Banglar Urmi and MV Banglar Gourab procured in 1982 and 1984 respectively.
The meeting was attended by Shipping Secretary Abdul Mannan Hawladar, Managing Director of the BSC Ali Mostafa Chowdhury and three executive directors - Golam Moula, Mostafa Kamaluddin and Md Saifullah.
The decision to sell off two vessels and to procure a container feeder vessel was taken in the year 2005 but it could not be implemented in the last four years due to bureaucratic tangles in the ministry, sources in the BSC said.
The sources said the new container feeder to be procured from the sale proceeds of the older ones would be of 700 to 750 TEUs capacity.
The estimated cost of the proposed container feeder has been fixed at Tk 840 million (84 crore) under the existing public procurement rules (PPR) for which the BSC will have to seek financial help from the government in spite of selling off two old vessels.
"The plight of the BSC is so fragile and it is running short of fund due to successive net loss from 1982-83 to 2003-04 except 2/3 years," a senior official favouring anonymity told the FE.