Bangladesh: Western Fishers Inaugurates Construction Work of Six Fishing Trawlers

Western Fishers Shipyard has inaugurated on April 19th the construction works of six fishing trawlers at the yard premises in Kolagaon, Patiya. Western Fishers Shipyard Ltd is a JV between Western Marine Shipyard and Fishers Shipyard Limited. Out of the six ships four ships will be owned by JK Group , 2x41m fishing trawlers and 2×42 m fishing trawlers .The rest two ships’ will be owned by QNS Group, 2x41m fishing trawlers.

The 41m long ships are being built at cost of BDT 23 core each and 42m at BDT 28 core each. This is the first time modern fishing trawlers will be constructed in Bangladesh. Their design was purchased from Iceland. These trawlers are capable of mid-sea trawling and sustainable in sea state-4; they will be built to cope with the rough Bay of Bengal where our fishing trawlers operate. The trawlers will be built under the French classification society Bureau Veritas.

In the past such trawlers used to be imported mainly from China and Thailand spending millions of our hard earned foreign currency. Technological development and initiatives by shipyard like Western Marine & Fishers Shipyard will save these foreign currencies and contribute in national economy.

During the ceremony Principal Officer of Mercantile Marine dept. of Bangladesh Capt. Habibur Rahman was present as chief guest. He admired the initiative taken by Western Fishers for building fishing trawlers and hoped the shipyard’s innovation will further benefit the economy in the coming days.

Shipyard MD, Engr. Sakhawat Hossain explained the newbuilding of such trawlers are possible in Bangladesh today. The quality of these trawlers will be no less than other similar vessels built in oversees shipyard. Moreover, he said that local ship owners should come ahead for building ships locally instead of placing the order abroad for cost effectiveness.

The yard Chairman Saiful Islam said “this is a new chapter we have started. Newbuilding of fishing trawlers are highly technical and complicated, it requires set of machineries to operate in the deep sea. Thus it is a great success we have achieved by laying the keels of these trawlers. The financial partners for this project including UCBL Bank were present amongst others in the ceremony“.