Western Marine Shipyards yesterday held a keel-laying ceremony of constructing a passenger vessel for a Danish company, the shipbuilder said in a statement.
The 49.80-metre ferry will be built for Hundested Rorvig Faergefart under the supervision of French classification society Bureau Veritas. Southeast Bank is financing the project by facilitating a credit line of Tk 44 crore.
“This is a great achievement for Bangladesh’s shipbuilding industry as well as for Western Marine,” the shipbuilder said.
Commerce Secretary Ghulam Hussain was the chief guest at the programme at the shipyard of Western Marine at Patiya. Prime Bank Chairman Azam J Chowdhury was also present.
Hussain said the government would come forward to assist the shipbuilding industry, now an emerging sector.
Western Marine Chairman Saiful Islam said the trade between Bangladesh and Denmark is rising steadily and export of the ferry would further enhance the bilateral trade.
Western Marine will deliver the ferry to its buyer by year-end, said Shawakat Hussain, managing director of Western Marine.
