By mid 2016 Bangladesh will be able to design and test almost all kinds of ships in the country.
For that, one needs a ‘Towing tank’ and the government is going to sanction necessary funds for that.
Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, Professor at Department of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering (NAME) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), told bdnews24.com, “The government will sanction fund TK 450 million for a ‘Towing tank’ which will give us the capacity to test the ship models designed in the country,”
An additional Tk 50 million for the project will come from the Association of Export-Oriented Shipbuilding to cover ten percent of its costs.
A ‘Towing Tank’ is used for hydro dynamic tests and those for checking stability, resistance and sea-worthiness of the designs of ship models.
Without it, there is no way to refine the design of a ship or test out a new design evolved.
The Eastward shift
“Shipbuilding shifted from Europe to Japan and then to Korea. Now China is a major ship-builder. If we want to enter this market, we have to develop our research capacity, that’s why the Towing Tank is a very important step for our shipbuilding industry”, said Rafiqul Islam.
“India developed its own Towing Tank more than 30 years ago. In Japan and Korea, almost every University has a naval architecture department equipped with a Towing Tank but we do not have one yet,” Rafiqul lamented.
Bangladesh can corner at least 2% of the global market for small and medium ships within the next ten years if it gets proper government support, say experts in the shipbuilding industry.
Abdullahel Bari, chairman of Ananda Group that pioneered shipbuilding for export in Bangladesh, told bdnews24.com, “Towing Tank is very essential for our industry so that we can develop ships for exports, now we have to go to Europe or Malaysia to test our models and that is expensive.”
A Towing tank in BUET will help develop naval architects and marine engineers who can design, test and build ships.
Mohammad Rafiqul Islam said, “We will be able to provide practical training to the students which we cannot provide now.”
BUET teachers will be able to carry out research and develop new concepts for designing ships which will help Bangladesh slice into the world market.
“We will be able to develop a forward linkage industry, we will be able to design our own ships and test their model, which is now done by other countries. If that happens, other countries will outsource ship design and model testing to us.” said Rafiqul Islam.
He said designing a ship and testing the designed model requires 2% to 5% of total cost of building a ship.
“The ship builders now go abroad to test designed ship models which cost them nearly Tk 4-5 million A towing tank will save that and add to the profits of our ship builders,” said Rafiqul.
Waiting for funds
In a meeting with finance minister AMA Muhith in 2011, it was decided that a Ship Model Testing Centre (Towing Tank) will be set up in the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, BUET.
The project proposal was submitted to the concerned ministry.
Now the proposal is being reviewed by the Education Ministry.
“The government must invest for the future,” said Rafiqul.
Once the funds are available, the project should take 30 months to complete, but Raifqul Islam says that could happen in lesser time.
Source: Bd news24