Ananda hands over its largest ship to UK buyer

Local shipbuilder Ananda Shipyard & Slipways Ltd yesterday handed a multi-purpose container vessel to its buyer in the United Kingdom.

Ananda, the pioneer in exporting ships from Bangladesh, has built the ship of over 6,100 dead-weight tonnage at its shipyard at Meghna Ghat of Sonargaon upazila in Narayanganj.

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The vessel has been made for the UK's Enzian Shipping Company Ltd, according to a statement released by the company after the handover ceremony took place at InterContinental Dhaka yesterday.

"Exporting ships is a big achievement for us," State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury said at the event.

The ship will be able to carry heavy steel coils, food grains, timbers and containers, according to the statement.

Tariqul Islam, executive director of Ananda Group, said the ship is now at the outer anchorage of the Chattogram port and will leave Bangladesh for the UK within a couple of days.

"This is the largest vessel being exported," he said.

Moreover, the vessel will navigate usually in the Baltic Sea, a hostile sea where sometimes ships get completely covered by the ice and has four feet high ice waters.

The ship, built a decade ago, is one of the four vessels against which foreign buyers cancelled orders. Ananda fetched Tk 60 crore by selling the multipurpose vessel.

At the event, Ananda Shipyard Chairman Abdullahel Bari said the shipyard has been building international standard ships at Meghnaghat for more than 30 years.

The shipyard has built 356 vessels for local and international buyers. Of them, the shipbuilder has exported 14 vessels since 2008.

At least 10 shipyards in Bangladesh are capable of building and exporting modern ships.