CHATTOGRAM, Dec 13: The Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) has decided to scrap the MT Banglar Shourabh and MT Banglar Jyoti following a fire accident.
This marks the end of an era for the two old ships of BSC, with the process of breaking them down likely to begin in January or February next year.
Both vessels, built in Denmark in 1987, have been in operation for 37 years, surpassing the international standard lifespan of 20 to 25 years. They were added to BSC's fleet in the same year, primarily transporting crude oil from larger tankers offshore to various depots in Patenga.
Experts noted that keeping the ships operational beyond their intended lifespan led to increased maintenance costs. Despite this, BSC did not remove the ships from its fleet due to an agreement with the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).
Unfortunately, a fatal explosion occurred on the oil tanker 'Banglar Jyoti' at the Dolphin Jetty of Chittagong sea port on September 30, resulting in three deaths. Just five days later, another incident happened at the same jetty when the Banglar Shourabh caught fire on September 5.
Commodore Mahmudul Malek, the Managing Director (MD) of BSC, stated that the heavily damaged ships will be phased out simultaneously. BSC is currently in the process of acquiring a new vessel, with chartered ships handling the crude oil transport in the interim. Tenders for the two ships, each weighing 14,541 tonnes, are to be submitted by January 6.
With the removal of these vessels, BSC will have five owned and one chartered oil tankers in its fleet, with the owned ships engaged in transporting goods on various international routes under foreign companies' control.
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