Bangladesh has an opportunity to save 60 billion US dollars in foreign exchange every year; A report sent by the Economic Relations Department (ERD) to the Ministry of Commerce has highlighted that it is possible to save this amount of foreign money by transporting goods in domestic flagged seagoing ships and containers.

For this purpose, it is recommended to increase the capacity of the shipping and container companies of the state and private sector of the country in the transportation of sea-going goods in that report.

The ERD report on potential shipping and container industries states that the southern region of the country can become a major hub for shipping container manufacturing; Container depots can be set up, especially at Payra port. The observation of the report also highlights that private operators should be given more licenses to increase off-dock facilities in handling import-export containers at Chattogram port.

In addition to these benefits, it has been mentioned that if the state organization Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) and private sector shipping companies and the container industry are supported, it will be possible to save foreign exchange equivalent to 60 billion US dollars annually.

Commodore Mohammad Maksud Alam, Director General of the Department of Shipping told Bangladesh Pratidin, “How exactly the $60 billion savings figure was arrived at - I don't know. Not only will shipping and container freight save so much money on freight. However, the development of the shipping industry will lead to huge financial inclusion. Every ship will have employment.”

“Apart from this, there are various activities such as repairing, and dryking, which have opportunities for financial inclusion apart from employment. For this purpose, the government has continued to support various policies,” he said.

Those concerned said, currently there is a duty exemption for the import of large ships. Priority is given to domestic vessels for berthing at port jetties. Apart from this, the law has made it compulsory to transport 50 percent of goods on domestic-flagged ships. Those concerned said that although various policies of the government continue to support the seagoing ship industry, there is not much investment in this sector.

Bangladesh Ships Principal Officer and Registrar Captain Sabbir Mahmood said, “A minimum of 500 ships are needed to transport the amount of imports and exports in the country throughout the year. Compared to that, the number of domestic ships is less.”

“Currently there are 97 ships flying the flag of Bangladesh. Of these, 8 are container ships, 8 are tankers and the rest are bulk carriers. As a result, there is an opportunity for Bangladesh to save a large amount of foreign currency by increasing the number of domestic ships in this sector and also to earn foreign currency by transporting foreign cargo,” he added.

Those concerned said that after independence, sea-going goods transportation activities were conducted through the state organization BSC, but currently private sector entrepreneurs are coming forward in this industry. Among the ships carrying the flag of Bangladesh, the number of ships of the government organization BSC is only 7. The remaining 90 ships belong to the private sector.

Hopefully, recently big industrial companies like Bashundhara Group, Meghna, and KSRM are coming forward in this industry. These companies are saving huge amounts of foreign exchange by transporting their own products. Apart from creating employment, foreign exchange is also earned by transporting foreign cargo.

Commodore Md Ziaul Haque, Managing Director of BSC told Bangladesh Pratidin, “Currently BSC has 7 ships. Agreement for import of 4 more ships has been signed.”

“Apart from this, the addition of 15 more ships to the fleet is under process. If they get the policy support of the government, they can quickly add these ships to the fleet of BSC and save a huge amount of foreign exchange by transporting goods by sea” he added.

Syed Mohammad Arif, chairman of the Bangladesh Shipping Agents Association (BSAA) said, “Every year, about 4 to 5 thousand foreign ships crowd the seaports of the country. We would not have to pay in dollars if we could transport the container on a domestic flagged vessel.”

“This would save a lot of foreign currency. However, there are not many ships in the country to transport goods on international seas. As a result, there is a need for reforms to increase capacity in this sector,” he added.

(The report was published in Bengali on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on October 24 and rewritten in English by Tanvir Raihan)