A Historical Evaluation of Shipbuilding Heritage in The Bengal Region
A Historical Evaluation of Shipbuilding Heritage in The Bengal Region
A Historical Evaluation of Shipbuilding Heritage in The Bengal Region
Article history: Shipbuilding is an ancient art of many hundred years in the Bengal region. The rich history of ship-
Received 17 Jan 2023; building has started with wooden boats used as modes of transportation and reflections of relationships
in revised from 17 Jan 2023; in Ancient India. The principal aim and objective of this study was to look up the history of shipbuilding
accepted 01 Feb 2023. in the Bengal region. To achieve the aim and objective the history was split into three broad periods:
pre-colonization, colonial, and post-colonial. Besides, this study looked at the rise and fall of ship-
Keywords:
building from the initial to present, as well as the national and international importance of the Bay of
Shipbuilding heritage, Bengal region,
Bengal region. This study had performed through secondary data that were collected from various sec-
wooden boats, colonial times, ancient
ondary data sources e.g., literature, books, research article, newspaper, online archives, and performed
period.
the ’content analysis’ method to define the brief history of the shipbuilding heritage Bengal region. The
shipbuilding history in the Bengal region began with wooden boats in the ancient period when the ship
was the primary mode of communication and transportation for natives. During the colonial time, the
local shipbuilding underwent a turning point as technological advancements from the western world
like the steam engine. However, during the post-colonial period, the shipbuilding sector saw notewor-
thy improvement, which was followed by a strong boost led by private entrepreneurs. At present, due to
some noteworthy advantages over 200 shipbuilding companies have operated in Bangladesh, with the
majority of them centered in Dhaka, Chittagong, Narayanganj, Barisal, and Khulna. This region had
a strong history of shipbuilding, as well as a high potential for future market expansion. A concerted
eff ort by both government agencies and private businesses is the only way to gain a foothold in the
worldwide market. To attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in this industry, proper standardization
and long-term planning are required.
© SEECMAR | All rights reserved
wide past the 2000s (Collins and Grubb, 2008). Bengal region. The present study has addressed the shipbuild-
As a shipbuilding nation since ancient times, the Bengal re- ing heritage in the Bengal region detailing the historic presence
gion has a glorious past and heritage (Zakaria et al., 2010b). In and evaluation of the shipbuilding in this region. This study
the very early days of the Egyptian and Greco-Roman empires, also covers the contribution of shipbuilding, the importance of
shipbuilding in Bengal was liberated (Unger, 2013). Between different shipbuilding regions, and finally, provides the recom-
the 15th and 17th centuries, the Bengal region was dominated mendation for conservation of the shipbuilding heritage in the
as a central hub of the construction of ocean-going vessels in Bengal region. This form of analytical research can be used sig-
Asia (Berthet, 2020; Kimura, 2019). Ibne Batuta, a Moroccan nificantly in many sectors to conserve the shipbuilding heritage
traveler, sailed back in the 14th century with a timber ship con- in the Bengal region as well as to establish and enhance the
structed in Bengal (Hasan et al., 2017; Rahman, 2017). Chit- shipbuilding environment. In a different study, the shipbuild-
tagong’s shipyards were used in the 17th century to build ships ing history in the Bengal region is narrowly mentioned, cover-
for the Sultan of Turkey (Berthet, 2015). Chittagong was desig- ing mostly the situations after liberation. The present study at-
nated as the ‘Porte Grande’ (the front door) by the Portuguese tempted to lock back at the past, starting from the pre-coloniza-
to establish a new reconciliation (Polo´nia and Oliveira, 2019; tion up to today.
Ray, 2011). Many warships were also constructed by the Royal
Navy in Chittagong and some of these were also used in the 2. Context of the study.
Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 AC (Bari, 2010; Zakaria, 2012). For
its design, speed, durability, and artfulness, the wooden ship Regardless of the long-standing prominent position of Ban-
designed in Bengal was internationally renowned. After meet- gladesh in the shipbuilding sector, the possibility of a shipbuild-
ing local demands, these vessels were also exported, in partic- ing industry has only been revealed for a decade (Siddique et
ular for the use of overseas trade and sea battles by European al., 2019). This initiation was led by a few shipbuilding com-
countries (Charney, 2019). The primitive shipbuilding indus- panies who have proven efficiencies by building a few ocean-
try emerged in Bangladesh in the mid-1950s and has achieved going ships for foreign buyers (Zahid et al., 2019). As a nation
tremendous headway and endeared with international buyers in the Bay of Bengal (BoB), Bangladesh has a lot of potential
(Hasan et al., 2017). The shipbuilding industry was character- in the shipbuilding industry, not only for the domestic econ-
ized by several state-owned companies in the Pakistan period omy but also for overseas markets (Hasan et al., 2017; Islam,
and most of which operate in the river-side cities, e.g., Khulna, 2018). Consequently, local ships begin to be exported in recent
Dhaka, Narayangonj, Chittagong, and Barisal (Hasan et al., years (Azam et al., 2015). With 12 nautical miles of territo-
2017; Islam, 2018). After the independence, to regulate water rial sea and 700 rivers flowing from surrounding 15000 miles
transport and shipbuilding activities, a specific legislative au- of inland waterways (Zahid et al., 2019), water transport plays
thority i.e., the Department of Shipping (DoS) was established an important role in Bangladesh’s economic growth (Azam et
in 1976. At the same time, the Inland Shipping Ordinance (ISO) al., 2015). According to recent statistics, more than 10,000 in-
was enforced which was the first legal instrument in the coun- land and coastal ships carry about 90% of the total oil prod-
try, and in 1983, the Bangladesh Merchant Shipping Ordinance uct, 70% of cargo, and 35% of passengers across the region
(BMSO) entered into operation (Kimura, 2019). In the mean- (Iqbal et al., 2010; Zahid et al., 2019). Most of the inland
time, the shipbuilding industry has incessantly broadened in the ships are built and repaired in local shipyards due to the pre-
building of different categories of inland water vessels (e.g., vailing amenities. The majority of the domestic shipyards have
ferry, cargo vessel, passenger vessel, fishing fleet), i.e., mostly the capacity to design and manufacture ships up to 3500 dead-
contributing to the domestic need (Zahid et al., 2019). In this weights (DWT) that meet local market requirements. Further,
maritime-terrestrial scenario, boat technology and culture pro- recently, few local shipyards have fulfilled the capacity to man-
vide perspectives for a better assessment of Chittagong’s com- ufacture 10000 DWT ships (Iqbal et al., 2010). In 2008, when
munication and trade trends, where shipbuilding and navigation a 2,900 DWT ocean-going ship was exported from Bangladesh,
were serving as modes of transportation and reflections of in- the Bangladesh shipbuilding industry received a boost (Hasan
teractions (Berthet, 2015). et al., 2017). The first export was to Denmark by Ananda ship-
The history of world shipbuilding is documented in numer- yard, competing with giant rivals such as China, India, and Viet-
ous publications. Bengal had a long history of overseas trade nam (Zahid et al., 2019). Following that, during the last decade,
(Hamilton, 1930). Several studies have shown that the ship- Bangladesh has also exported ships to Mozambique, Germany,
building industry is first started by which country and who dom- Netherlands, and Finland to proclaim herself as a shipbuilding
inated the world shipbuilding market from past to present. In nation (Saki et al., 2019).
addition, the general history of shipbuilding in the Bengal re- In Bangladesh, there are more than 200 shipyards and ma-
gion and the past and present status of specific shipbuilding rine workshops currently in operation. Among them, approx-
companies in Bangladesh have been documented in several stud- imately 70% are operated on the side of the Buriganga, Shi-
ies. However, there is not any particular study to gather the ex- talakha, and Meghna River Bank, i.e., in and around Dhaka
act shipbuilding history within the Bengal region. This study and Narayanganj district. 20% of shipyards are situated on
aims to fill the gap by analyzing the historical secondary data the side of the Karnapuli river in Chittagong Division, 6% are
followed by a field study investigating the past as well as the in the Khulna Division along with the Poshur riverbank, and
challenge and prospects for the future of shipbuilding in the rest 4% are in the Barisal division (Hossain et al., 2016; Iqbal
M. A. Shaheen et al. / Journal of Maritime Research Vol XX. No. I (2023) 46–58 48
et al.,2010; Zakaria et al., 2010b). These shipyards and ma- libraries to search for relevant historical data from old news-
rine workshops are building different vessels such as fast pa- papers and other archives. Finally, digital archives containing
trol boats, dredging barges, passenger vessels, landing crafts, relevant data have been analyzed to enrich the secondary data
tugs, supply barges, deck loading barges, speed boats, cargo sources. All these data have been analyzed using the ‘content
coasters, troop-carrying vessels, pilot boats, pontoons, and wa- analysis method’.
ter taxis (Hossain and Zakaria, 2008). After covering the do-
mestic business requirements, Bangladesh’s shipbuilding sec- Figure 1: Research method.
tor has additional capacity to serve the international market
(Thiede and Thiede, 2015). STX of France, Fincantieri of Italy,
China’s shipbuilding and an offshore company, Damen ship-
yards of the Netherlands, and Daewoo of South Korea have al-
ready expressed enthusiasm for the construction of their vessels
from Bangladesh (Siddique et al., 2019; Thiede and Thiede,
2015). After the liberation, the Narayanganj Dockyard & En-
gineering Works (NDEW) (Siddique et al., 2019) was tasked
with building five small patrol boats. Khulna Shipyard (KSY)
was tasked with building and rehabilitating as many commer-
cial vessels as possible (Bari, 2010). The results were signifi-
cant and KSY built and/ or rehabilitate vessels in various cate-
gories namely the multipurpose vessel, swift patrol boat, con-
tainer vessel, freight vessel, tanker, dredging barge, ro-ro ferry,
passenger vessel, landing craft, tourist ship, tug, supply barge,
deck loading barge, pleasure craft/ yacht, crane boat, speed boat,
deep-sea trawler, self- propelled barge, inspection vessel, cargo
coaster, troops carrying vessel double-decker passenger ves-
sel, hydrographic survey boat, pilot boat, hospital ship, water
taxi, pontoon, etc. (Zakaria et al., 2010a). Besides, most of
the inland ships are built and repaired in local shipyards due
to the prevailing amenities. The majority of the domestic ship-
yards can design and manufacture ships up to 3500 deadweights
(DWT) that meet local market requirements. Bangladesh has
exported 44 ships to 14 countries since its liberation and re-
ceived USD 170 million in revenue (Iqbal et al., 2010; Rabbi Source: Authors.
and Rahman, 2017; Thiede and Thiede, 2015; WMSL, 2018).
While Chattogram Dry Dock Ltd (CDDL) is considering strate-
gies to build warships, Khulna shipyard Ltd is already ahead At present, there are five major shipbuilding regions in Ban-
to build large petrol craft and petrol craft (Mahmud, 2021). gladesh namely Dhaka, Narayanganj, Chittagong, Khulna, and
The Workboat World acknowledges the high-tech offshore pa- Barisal. Figure 2 has demonstrated the major shipbuilding re-
trol vessel ‘Doria’ as the ‘Best Big Petrol Boat Build in 2017’ gions, which are mostly on the riverbank in these areas.
based on its unique construction and efficiency (Mathew, 2017;
Wade and Tana, 2012). Chittagong based Western Marine Ship- Figure 2: Map of major shipbuilding regions in Bangladesh.
yard Ltd (WMSL) constructed this vessel for the Kenyan govt.
In addition, in recent days, Bangladesh is also constructing en-
vironment friendly Tanker and LNG vessels that comply with
international maritime standards (Zahid et al., 2019).
3. Methodology.
This study has been completed through secondary data to
achieve the research objectives. Since the research context is
related to history, various secondary data sources e.g., pieces of
literature, books, research article, newspaper, and online archives
have been reviewed to define the brief history of shipbuilding
heritage within the Bay of Bengal (BoB) territory. Figure 1
shows an overview of the research method for this study.
In the first phase of this study, various kinds of literature
have been reviewed. Besides, the researchers have been to Source: Authors.
M. A. Shaheen et al. / Journal of Maritime Research Vol XX. No. I (2023) 46–58 49
4. The History of Shipbuilding in the Bengal Region. of Dharmaditya dated 531 AD, it could be inferred that there
were shipbuilding yards in different parts.
Shipbuilding is not a new industry in the BoB region. The
shipbuilding heritage in this region can be found back in an- Figure 4: Pencil rendering of the Naukarana boat in the ancient
cient days, even up to the period of Before Christ (BC). The period.
shipbuilding heritage of the BoB region has been distributed
into four-time segments namely the ancient time, the middle
age, the colonial age, and, the modern era that have been de-
scribed in two segments e.g., Pakistan rule in Bengal and mod-
ern Bangladesh.
However, in the later novel, the ‘Bhoja Yuktikalpataru,’ there straints imposed by the Arabs. We have the description of Hi-
were three kinds of ships: Sarvamandira, Madhyamandira, and uen Tsang coming later, who noticed a fleet of 3000 ships be-
Agramandira. Sarvamandira was named the first because it had longing to the king of Assam. The famous Venetian traveler
apartments all over. The Sarvamandira used to bear treasures, Marco Polo stayed in this harbor while visiting India in the thir-
birds, and court ladies. This was the vessel ordinarily used in teenth century. Friar Odoric of Pordenone, an Italian monk who
times of calm by kings. The Madhyamandira (Middle- heart) visited India in the fourteenth century, refers to ships carrying
was so called because the living quarters were situated in the 700 people in the script of his voyage across the Indian ocean.
middle. It was a sports vessel and used in the rainy season in From the time of the Agathareids (171 BC) to the sixteenth cen-
general. The vessel of the third kind, the Agramandira, took its tury, great-sized vessels were designed according to Dr Vincent
name from the circumstance that the living room was located in India built. No wonder, then, that the Portuguese were taken
the front or at the top of the vessel. The Agramandira was for away by excellent Indian boats when they first landed on the
distant and perilous voyages and the sea fights. There are also West coast. In addition to mathematics and astronomy, India
other references to ships in ‘Yuktikalpataru’. There are twenty- has excellent cloth, metal and paint manufacturing skills that
seven types of ships listed here, with the largest measuring 276 brought the Portuguese here.
ft*36 ft*27 ft and weighing approximately 2300 tons.
Figure 7: Carvings depicting a gracefully shaped passenger
Figure 6: Some of Bengal boat drawings. boat.
for building ships in the neighboring mountains, allowing Alex- of musk, camphor, ambergris, and sandalwood (Suhrawardi,
ender to create the famous flotilla that sailed under Nearchus’ 2015).
command down the Indus (Suhrawardi, 2015). According to the Between the 15th and 17th centuries, the Bengal coast was
Arrian (Arrianus, 86-160 AD), this fleet consisted of 800 ves- the base of Asia for constructing oceangoing vessels. Chit-
sels in number; around 1000 vessels according to Curtius (Ru- tagong shipyards were used to build ships for the Sultan of
fus, 41-54 AD) and Diodorus (Siculus, 30 BC). According to Turkey in the 17th century (Zakaria et al., 2010b). Many war-
Ptolemy (Ptolemy, 90-168 AD), 8000 troops, several thousand ships were built in Chittagong for the Royal Navy, and some of
horses, and large quantities of supplies could be accommodated them were even used in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 (Azam
on this fleet. This huge fleet was made entirely of Indian wood et al., 2015). Large flat-bottomed vessels sailed between Patna
and designed by Indian shipbuilders. Pliny refers to an inter- and Hughli with saltpeter, salt, and other goods with a capac-
esting navigational overview. Among other items, excavations ity of 100 to 200 tons. Large flat-bottomed vessels, plying up
at Mohenjo-Daro on the Indus yielded a potsherd and a pair of and down the Ganges in the seventeenth century, and Baleswar
steatite seals, each bearing a depiction of a ship or a ship incised or Balasore was an active shipbuilding center where merchants
on it. The discovery of a dockyard at Lothal in Gujrat provides from Bengal had constructed their ships. By the eighteenth cen-
the most substantial evidence by far. tury, watercrafts known as ’burs’ in Bengal were used to trans-
port cotton and other bulky materials. These were lighter boats
4.2. The Middle Age (1204 AD - 1757 AD). without a keel or side timbers that were capable of carrying
50,000 pounds or more cargoes. On the other hand, Gujarat
In 1204, Nadia was unexpectedly attacked by Bakhtiyar and Surat were the most important shipbuilding centers, with
Khalji, and King Lakhsman Sena and his family secretly fled Surat capable of building large ships of up to 1000 tons at the
through the back door barefoot and went by boat to Bikram- end of the seventeenth century. This port also constructed and
pur of Munshiganj district of East Bengal and took shelter there repaired ships for Arabs, Indians, Persians, and later Europeans
(Muhammad Selim, 2019). Between 1221 and 1295, the travel (Rapson et al., 1922).
records of Marco Polo provided Europeans with their first knowl- India has an ample supply of timber as well. Ships de-
edge about India, especially about India’s eastern coast (Suhra- signed by India were superior as they were made of teak, which
wardi, 2015). Back in the 14th century, Moroccan traveller, persisted for a very long time resisted the effects of saltwater
Ibne Batuta sailed on a timber ship and reached the Bengal. In and weather. Lieut. Col. A Walkers’ paper- ‘Considerations
1368, under the command of Admiral Zheng He (1371-1433, of India’s affairs’, published in 1811, had excellent comments
also known as Cheng Ho), who went into the mouth of the Per- on the building of ships in Bombay. He noted that it was es-
sian Gulf, the Chinese Ming dynasty attempted to conquer the timated that every ship in Britain’s navy is renewed every 12
Indian Ocean. It is also assumed that he landed in a part of years. It was well known that ships constructed from teakwood
Bengal-what is today’s Bangladesh-around 1413 to 1415 (Suhra- sustained fifty years and upwards (Suhrawardi, 2015). After
wardi, 2015). Vasco da Gama arrived in Calicut in May 1498, running for fourteen or fifteen years, several ships constructed
under the direction of an Arab navigator. by Bombay were brought into the Navy and were considered
Through Islamization, Cambay’s main port as well as the stronger than ever. He further noted that the ships constructed
other eastern ports of Bengal became Islam’s stronghold, host- by Bombay are one fourth cheaper than those built at English
ing large settlements of Muslim merchants. European trav- docks. Madapollum was another shipping hub that flourished.
eler Caesar Frederick recorded that during the mid-15th century, Thomas Bowrey, an English traveller who visited India during
Chittagong was a shipbuilding center (Rahman, 2017). When the 1669-79 century, notes that many English merchants and
Babur established the Mughal rule in India in 1526, the Por- others constructed their ships and vessels annually at Madapol-
tuguese fleet was already operating in India (Hossain and Za- lum (Suhrawardi, 2015). Cesare De Fedrici was a sixteenth
karia, 2008; Suhrawardi, 2015). A naval engagement in Bom- century Venetian traveller who noted that shipbuilding materi-
bay harbor in 1529 resulted in the Mughals’ full occupation als were abundant and cheaper in this region. Thus, the Sultans
of the harbor by the year 1534. Emperor Akbar founded the of Constantinople wanted to have their vessels constructed in
Mughal navy. To look after the sea and riverine navigation, he India than in Alexandria. In the fifteenth century, Nicol Conti,
founded the imperial naval department named ‘Nawara’. There who visited India, was fascinated by the quality of Indians ship-
were only warships used in the rivers to support the land forces building. He noted, ’some ships larger than ours, with five sails
in many campaigns before the Mughal rules (Suhrawardi, 2015). and many masts, were designed by the nations of India are ca-
During the fourteenth century, passing through ports of Ko- pable of containing 2000 butts’. To withstand the force of the
zhikode, and Srilanka, Malaccan items were exported for trad- tempests to which they were heavily exposed, the lower part
ing in India. From there, they were transported westward to was built with triple planks.
Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and Jeddah in the Red Sea, through Even before colonization, while doing business in this re-
the ports of Arabia to the near east, and often to East Africa, for gion, the English also noticed that the small ships used by the
many purposes, including burial cremations. As entry ports to natives and built by them could be of tremendous benefit. Boats
India and China, the Abbasid used Alexandria, Damietta, Aden, and rafts were used for loading and unloading ships as a means
and Siraf. Merchants coming from India to the port city of Aden of conveyance (Qaisar, 1968; Suhrawardi, 2015). Approxi-
paid tribute to Ibn Ziyad, the Sultan of Yemen, in the form mately 4200 big boats and 4400 small boats were there. Large-
M. A. Shaheen et al. / Journal of Maritime Research Vol XX. No. I (2023) 46–58 52
sized vessels were there that could also hold elephants. The try’s mighty and dangerous rivers, the authenticity of the design
boats used by kings and nobles were designed to look artistic. It remained intact. Bangladesh’s riverboats remained the same
was credited with a carrying capacity of more than one hundred until the twentieth century, constructed using skills and inno-
people by a fourteenth-century account of an Indian ship, pro- vations that were passed down from generation to generation
viding a reasonable idea of both the shipbuilding skills and the by boat builders. Boats were cut out of large logs (like a ca-
maritime abilities of a seaman who could handle such a large noe) in earlier periods, and later boats were constructed of bun-
vessel successfully. Another account of the early fifteenth cen- dled cane and bamboo. In later times, in boat construction, tim-
tury describes Indian ships as being designed in compartments ber species such as Jarul, Sal, Sundari, and Burmese teak were
so that they could accomplish the voyage even if one part was used. Baka (the floor), Quina (the bilge framework), Gocha
broken. This could be described as the precursor to the modern- (the side frame), and Gura (the deck beam) are the transverse
day subdivisions of ships into watertight compartments; a con- structural elements.
cept that was then entirely foreign to the Europeans (Andaya,
1996). 4.3. The colonial period in Bengal (1757 AD - 1947).
In the history of India and the Indian Ocean trade, many
Figure 8: Bengal waterways of the eighteenth century. changes were brought in the 18th century, particularly after the
1750s. This influenced the shipbuilding in Bengal as the En-
glish were the largest carriers of Bengal’s trade with other parts
of Asia. It was in their interest to have their ship constructed in
Bengal by the British in that region.
Vice admiral Francois Edmond Paris (1806-1893), was a
French naval officer who made significant contributions to naval
engineering during the transition from sail to steam. He traveled
to South Asia during the early 19th century and wrote exten-
sively on the boat buildings in various parts of the then Indian
subcontinent. He sketched, drew, collected measured sketches,
and commented on several of the surrounding vessels.
Paris was best known for his fascination with Indigenous
boats. He drew plans and scenes of watercraft in many differ-
ent places such as Senegal, the Seychelles, India, Malaysia, the
Strait of Malacca, Vietnam, China, Singapore, the Philippines,
Indonesia, Australia, Chile, and Brazil. The craft he encoun-
tered along the Indian coast also attracted Paris as it was small,
squat, high-sided cargo ships, called ‘tank-boats’. They were
occupied with two-mast -a larger was mounted by the main-
mast, and the smaller mast was fully positioned aft. He saw and
portrayed another two-mast coaster of around twenty meters in
the same waters (Suhrawardi, 2015).
rivers where he found solitary moments rejuvenating his po- * 4/ 5 feet (Suhrawardi, 2015). In the stone trade between Syl-
etic talents and creating some of his masterpieces. In reality, het and Dhaka, ’Bajitpuri’ or ’Sylheti Patam’ boats have also
Tagore’s ’Padma boat’ was a houseboat with living and dining been used recently. These ships are about twice the capacity of
rooms. Tagore lived on and off on this boat between 1890 and the ’Sylheti Kosha’ and seem to have been ’Binekata’ (smooth-
1891 and received guests such as Acharya Jagadish Chandra skinned) rather than ’digekata’ (reverse-clinker).
Bose, Lokendranath Palit, and Surendranath Tagore. Sitting on
the deck of the boat Padma, he wrote essays, letters, and pub- 4.5. Modern Bangladesh (1971 - 2020).
lished articles. Most of his ‘Galpo Guchho’s stories and various Two major technological ’revolutions’ occurred in the twen-
famous poems, like ’Sonar Tari’ was a prolific time of his life tieth century that changed Bangladesh’s riverscape from vibrant
and assumed as the creations from those boat life. On the other rivers-sceneries with hundreds of sails to a bare noisy one. In
hand, ‘The Chapala’ was another ’dinghy’(small boat) attached the 1980s, as their efficiency enabled the boats to become more
to the boat Padma. The poet used it to travel into narrow strips economically viable, cheap diesel engines imported from China
of water where the Bajra couldn’t go’ (Suhrawardi, 2015). began being used as inboard engines for riverboats. This re-
sulted in sudden riverboat motorization and allowed the crew
Figure 10: Tagore’s family Bajra. to save mast and sails on the coast. It also meant, however,
the loss of all the wonderful and special riggings of our ves-
sels in less than five years (Suhrawardi, 2015). The second
‘revolution’ happened with the transition from wood to steel
welded sheets of boat-building material. Boat-builders were
forced to use steel-welded sheets to build their new boats by
rural electrification and the political will to protect forests, and
wooden boats quickly became too costly and less economically
worthwhile. Wooden vessels are also no longer designed with
the expectations of a few types of boats, such as salt carriers.
The typical shapes are no longer even copied (Saki et al., 2019;
Suhrawardi, 2015). Bangladesh’s primary transportation infras-
tructure is its vast inland waterways. In FY 1986, some 18.9
Source: Suhrawardi, 2015. million cargos (around 21% of the total) were transported by
water transport. The country had 8430 kilometers of navigable
waterways as of the beginning of 1988, of which up to 3058
4.4. Pakistan rule in Bengal (1947 - 1971).
were key cargo routes. A fleet of more than 480 vessels was
Ames Hornell (1946) dealt with several aspects of the trans- operated by Bangladesh.
port of water from South Asia. Between 1950 and 1959, Basil
Greenhill carried out fieldwork in west Pakistan and East Pak- Figure 11: Passenger launch plying from Dhaka to Matlab on
istan which is present in Bangladesh (Sarkar, 1990; Suhrawardi, the Dhonagoda River.
2015). Greenhill divided the Bangladesh river craft that Basil
Greenhill encountered into six classes the second of which con-
sisted of the round hulled ships with reverse clinker planking.
There had a problem with the ‘reverse clinker’ technology. Ac-
cording to Yves Marre, that was only noticed in Jaflong, Sylhet
area. All the other types of boats that he witnessed were built
with planking, side by side, attached with staples, including the
Shoronga, and others (Suhrawardi, 2015). These boats were
usually found in the northern part of Sylhet, on the Brahma-
putra/ Jamuna and the Meghna. Others were seen on the river
Pasur, south of Khulna, in the western part of Mymensingh dis-
trict, near the Brahmaputra/ Jamuna, and possibly at Dhaka near
Mograpara hat. The reverse clinker boats known as ‘Shoronga’
were used in the northern Sundarbans, in Kishoreganj, Brah-
manbaria, and Habiganj districts. These boats measured 52 to
62 feet in length, 10 to 18 feet in breadth, and 4 to 8 feet in-
depth, and they had a cargo capacity of 800 to 1500 maunds Source: Suhrawardi, 2015.
(29 to 56 tons) (1 maund = 0.04 ton). In recent years, reverse
clinker, round hulled boats known as ’Sylheti Kosha’ carried Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) as of 1987;
stone, sand, and paddy by river from Sylhet to Dhaka, and re- around half were inland and river barges and the rest were used
turns to Sylhet with consumer goods. These boats could carry for coastal trade. Country ships operating primarily in peren-
350 to 400 maunds (13 to 15 tons) and measured 35/ 45 * 8/ 10 nial waters are key sectors of the IWT. Within the nation, over
M. A. Shaheen et al. / Journal of Maritime Research Vol XX. No. I (2023) 46–58 54
975,000 country boats are operated (BBS, 2003). Of these 350- the main port of Chittagong. The shipbuilding industry here
.000 are cargo-carrying boats and 625000 carry passengers. So- hopes that it provides enormous potential if the global econ-
me of the historical steamers operated by BIWTA are illustrated omy recovers. Experts say more than 50% of the ships in the
in Figure 12. world are more than 20 years old and need to be replaced soon
Bangladesh’s shipbuilding yards now export small and me- (Suhrawardi, 2015).
dium - sized ships to the highly competitive European mar-
ket. Bangladeshi yards have since manufactured and exported Figure 13: Expanded shipbuilding facilities to produce larger
more than 500m worth of ferries, cargo vessels, and ocean- go- vessels.
ing multi-purpose ships (Suhrawardi, 2015). The ships were
designed for countries like Denmark, Germany, and Finland,
among others.
450mm Cutter Suction Dredgers (CSD) were first manufac- these timbers become rare to obtain, various trees namely Sun-
tured in Bangladesh under this Joint Venture and delivered to dari, Gajari, Zarail, Kathal, Shilkoroi and Koroi are now used
BIWTA. Recently, two more 650mm CSDs have been shipped (Jiang et al., 2013; Suhrawardi, 2015).
to BWDB. Thirteen more dredgers are currently being devel- Boat building begins with the owner raising money to pro-
oped for BIWTA and BWDB (Siddique et al., 2019; Suhrawardi, vide at least 50% of the expense from different sources. To do
2015). this, the boatman may refer to family sources, perhaps land or
Dockyard & Engineering Works (Siddique et al., 2019), cattle sales, or land mortgage sales. The money lenders who
Narayanganj, was ordered to build 5 tiny patrol crafts after lib- charge exorbitant interest rates are favored over these outlets.
eration. As a result, two ships (BNS PABNA and NOAKHALI) The balance of credit shall be issued by the merchants by way
and three ships (BNS PATUAKHALI, RANGAMATI and BO- of credit for the purchase of timber, staples, etc., and by deferral
GRA) were commissioned in 1972 and the remaining three ships of payments to the shipbuilders. A large network of boat own-
(BNS PATUAKHALI, RANGAMATI, and BOGRA) were com- ers, wood dealers, and boat builders has historically existed.
missioned in a few years, all of which are still operational and The boat builders had a close association with boat owners and
currently run by the Coast Guard (Rahman, 2017). Khulna suppliers of wood and played an intermediary role in the ar-
Shipyard (KSY) was assigned as far as possible to build and rangements (Suhrawardi, 2015). Here are some of the coun-
rehabilitate commercial vessels that sustained losses year af- try ships’ pencil renderings that occurred in greater Bangla and
ter profiting from taka 1.25 crore in the 1974-75 financial year parts of Bihar and Orissa.
(Rah man, 2017). Chittagong Dry Dock (CDD) was able to
begin operating in 1981.For several reasons these three public Figure 14: Some of the country ships’ pencil renderings that
shipyards could not continue as profitable and were ultimately occurred in greater Bangla and parts of Bihar and Orissa.
put on the privatization board for financially viable, but for ef-
ficient management, the privatization board handed over the
KSY, DEW, and CDD to Bangladesh Navy in 1999, 2006, and
2015 respectively.
Figure 15: Some wooden boats in the Bengal region. Figure 16: Wooden boat construction in Chittagong.
Conclusions.
fully exported ships to the international market including Eu- dustry: A bangladesh perspective. Procedia engineering 194,
rope where the standards are often high. But the export market 218–223.
and our local capabilities are not yet strong which resulted in a Hossain, K., Zakaria, N., 2008. Potentiality and prospect of
sharp decline in export quantity in recent years. shipbuilding indus- tries in bangladesh. Journal of NOAMI 25
The time period of the study was mostly within the global (2), 33–54.
pandemic that arises due to the Coronavirus diseases 2019 (CO- Hossain, K. A., 2010. Evaluation of potential, prospect and
VID-19). Consequently, there were strong limitations on move- challenge of bangladeshi shipbuilding in light of global contest.
ment and communication, which resulted in less flexibility on Hossain, N. U. I., Nur, F., Jaradat, R. M., 2016. An ana-
data collection processes. Since, many of the libraries were lytical study of hazards and risks in the shipbuilding industry.
close during the data collection period, the authors mostly have In: Proceedings of the international annual conference of the
to rely on online data sources to gather the historic data on ship American society for engineering management. pp. 1–8.
building heritage on the Bay of Bengal region. Iqbal, K. S., Zakaria, N. G., Hossain, K. A., 2010. Identify-
A collective move by both govt. bodies and private en- ing and analysing underlying problems of shipbuilding indus-
trepreneurs are the way out to overcome this situation. Govt. tries in bangladesh. Journal of Mechanical Engineering 41 (2),
need to give policy support to encourage local production. e.g., 147–158.
import embargoes on smaller vessels that are being built locally, Islam, R., 2018. A study on the challenged encountered by
low-interest long term finance, quality assurance and monitor- the ship building industry of bangladesh.
ing, etc. At the same time, the private sector needs to prepare Jiang, L., Bastiansen, E., Strandenes, S. P., 2013. The inter-
them for the global market. Worker’s skills need to be improved national competitiveness of chinaâs shipbuilding industry. Trans-
and well maintained so they get recognition by the classifica- portation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review
tion’s societies. Proper standardization and long-term prepara- 60, 39–48.
tion shall be taken to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Kimura, J., 2019. Cross-regional and-chronological per-
in this industry. There was a long history of shipbuilding in spectives on east asian seafaring and shipbuilding. In: Early
this region as well as a strong potential for future expansion of Global Interconnectivity across the Indian Ocean World, Vol-
the market. The industry needs to prepare itself to address the ume II. Springer, pp. 203–226.
demands satisfactorily. Mahmud, A. A., 2021. Western marine brings new hope in
shipbuilding. The Daily Sun. URL: https://www.dailysun.com-
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