\\\'Flawless fishing vessel\\\' built in country

CHITTAGONG, Mar 10: The FMC Dockyard, a local shipbuilder, has successfully constructed a fishing vessel, which they claimed to have been one free from all flaws.
The dockyard has built the FV CML Labiba, a mid-water fishing vessel that concluded a two-day successful sea trial last Friday. The vessel is now ready to launch fishing commercially, sources concerned said.
The vessel with 250-tonne holding capacity is operated by engines of 1,360 horse power (HP) from the world famous Caterpillar along with 550 kilowatt Caterpillar generator, freezing system of Volks Co of Germany and the most modern navigational system and electro-mechanical wings.
Shipbuilding expert Engr Md Shahjahan said the FV Labiba is the first successfully built fishing vessel free from any shortcomings in the country.
"During the sea trial its design and construction was found flawless. The vessel's trawl speed was five nautical miles in the 900 rotation per minute (RPM) against tide. A vessel generally
needs 1,400 RPM in such cases," he said adding that the vessel would be able to operate during the stormy wind and cyclone.
"Fishing trawler, the major sea fishing equipment in Bangladesh, is mainly sourced from countries like Thailand, Korea and Japan. The FMC Dockyard has proved that the country will no more need to look upon fishing trawlers from abroad. The country will save a lot of foreign exchange in this sector from now on," he said.
Md Ilyas Meah, a deep-sea fishing trawler operator with experience of 25 years who operated the vessel in the sea trial, said that FV Labiba has proved Bangladesh can build better fishing trawlers.
"I have operated a number of fishing trawlers constructed abroad but I did not feel so much comfort as I felt in case of operating FV Labiba," he said.
FMC Dockyard Chairman Mirza Ayub Baig said they have built the fishing vessel for a local company named Apon Import Centre Ltd of Dhaka.