Bangladesh Shipping Corp(BSC) is set to buy 12 containerships, ranging from 2,500 to 3,000 teu, as it looks to grab a share of regional containerised volumes.
The move would represent a return to container shipping for BSC after a near-three decade absence – according to sources, it now operates just eight bulk vessels.
Six of the new ships will be coming from South Korea, as part of a government-to-government loan deal, with BSC MD Mahmudul Malek saying the project will cost around $313m.
“South Korea’s Export-Import Bank will provide Bangladesh a loan to buy six ships once the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) has approved,” he said.
“The EDCF has signed a deal with the BSC and is conducting a feasibility study of the loan project. After the study is completed, the clearance for funding will be given.”
Commodore Malek said the vessels would be built by “either Dae Sun or Hyundai Heavy Industries”.
How and from where BSC will acquire the other six box ships has not been confirmed, but the carrier has also lined up the acquisition of four more bulk vessels and two tankers.
For the 2023-24 period, Bangladesh’s combined import and exports topped $130bn, but the government’s collapse late last year provoked chaos in supply chains.
By the middle of last week, congestion at its busiest gateway, Chittagong, was at 57.5%, having more than doubled in a fortnight, with 15 box ships at anchor, a wave of delays prompted by prime movers and trailer operators walking out on 4 February, the latest in a long line of labour issues.
Against this backdrop, suppliers in India have been looking to take advantage, threatening Bangladesh’s biggest industries.
Last year’s throughput figures for Chittagong have not yet been published, but according to the eeSea liner database, in 2023 it handled just over 3m teu. It currently hosts 30 services, mostly feeders connecting it to the transhipment hubs of Singapore, Port Klang and Colombo.
It does also feature as a port of call on a handful of deepsea Far East-Middle East services.
