The Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) will procure two Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) vessels from China with the capacity of 40,000 cubic meters each.
Both the ships will be used for supplying LNG at the country’s first LNG Import Terminal Port, constructed by state owned Petrobangla at Moheshkhali in Chittagong.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in this respect between the BSC and the Chinese Institute of Marine and Offshore Engineering HB Company Ltd at the sipping ministry on Tuesday.
BSC managing director Commodore Habibur Rahman Bhuiyan and the general manger of Chinese Institute of Marine, Yan Jun, signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organizations.
Shipping minister Shahjahan Khan, additional secretary Jikrur Reza Khanom and other high-ranking officials were present during the signing ceremony.
“These vessels will carry liquefied natural gas for the country’s first LNG import terminal at Moheshkhali. Under the construction agreement, these vessels will reach the country within 18 months,” the shipping minister said.
As part of the government initiative, Shahjahan Khan said, 36 more ships would be procured for BSC for making it profitable. Six Chinese six ships would be added to BSC fleet by 2018, he said. The capacity of each ship would be 39,000 tons. Taka 1,843 crore would be spent for constructing six ships. Of them, the Chinese Exim bank would provide Taka 1,448 crore and rest Taka 395 crore will be given by BSC.
