WMS lays keel of container vessel Siara Ereshva

CHITTAGONG, Aug 24: The Western Marine Shipyard (WMS) has inaugurated the construction work of a 176 TEUs (twenty feet equivalent unit) container vessel through a keel laying ceremony in the shipyard premises at Patiya of the district Sunday.
The container will be owned and operated by MR Global Ltd to be built under French class Bureau Veritas (BV). Chairman of the MR Global Salim Chowdhury and company's managing director Shihab Chowdhury were present in the ceremony.
Executive vice president, also chief manager of Trust Bank Ltd, Hossain Shah Ali was also present on the occasion. Trust Bank is the financing bank to MR Global Ltd for the project.
The ship will be able operating between Chittagong Port and Pangaon Inland Container Terminal (PICT) in Narayangonj. The inbound containers will be transported to Dhaka by inland river route which will reduce our traffic density in highways.
Salim Chowdhury praised Western Marine's quality shipbuilding and stated that the vessel MV Siara Ereshva will ply in the water very soon marking its contribution in the national economy of Bangladesh.
Shipyard managing director Sakhawat Hossain said the Western Marine has exported eight multipurpose container ships in the recent past which are plying in the European waters currently. This has proven the quality of shipbuilding in Bangladesh. As such, Bangladeshi ship owners should feel encouraged to purchase ships from local industry rather than importing them. "We have signed contracts for a total of seven similar ships and expecting to sign contract for more five ships which are in the pipeline," he said.
WMS chairman Saiful Islam said the Western Marine is already building five more similar container ships which will serve the PICT. After the global financial crisis and national political problems the shipbuilding market is emerging once again and these new building projects will add greater value to our economy.