The right People, right Experiences and right Vision –in our view, a rewarding result follows when you put all these resources under a single umbrella. Maritimus is not a concept which emerged from scratch; an effort to take our experiences and put them to proper use, plus confidence acquired from a productive past is what inspired us to set this organization to sail.

This evergreen land of rivers has always been home to boats – from simple bamboo rafts to more complex, mechanized vessels, Bangladesh has acquired its share of shipbuilding experience over the pages of history. We believe that with the inclusion of our efforts in the industry, we can eventually build vessels that can be channeled into the international waters and towards far away destinations. We are driven towards Vision 2010, a goal which will see us as a fully operational shipbuilding company by mid 2010.

‘Concept Maritimus’ is not centered on the goals of a single organization. From the planning desk to the production stages, our philosophy in a nutshell boldly declares–

A shipyard should aim to deliver quality ships within the contracted time; profit is a consequent outcome.

With this approach to business and dreams of emerging as a company capable of catering to the needs of international clients, we welcome you aboard Maritimus. You can definitely look forward to a great voyage ahead with us by your side.

There are four prerequisites that any country must fulfill before emerging as a shipbuilding country producing ocean-going vessels: International standard shipbuilding practice, quality management system, coastline and riverine landscape and infrastructure including manpower resources. Bangladesh has already covered all these avenues along its eventful shipbuilding history.

Bangladesh, through the course of time, has gained a comprehensive experience of building fine vessels in answer to her communication and transportation needs. From wood to steel, and from single-deck to multi-deck vessels, the country’s Shipbuilding Industry has developed over time and so has the labor force’s mastery of the craft. Today, There are over two thousand 500 tonne–to-2000-tonne capacity cargo-ships and 220 tonne-to-1000 tonne capacity passenger vessels, all made in Bangladesh cruising its rivers.

The location of the first full fledged shipyard in the country, the ‘Khulna Shipyard’ was selected in 1954 and the yard reached production capacity in 1957 .Since 1967, the shipyard has been run by local engineers and staff. Khulna Shipyard produced six thousand and fifty vessels in its glory days, and is still in operation under the management of Bangladesh Navy.

As air transport continues to be highly expensive and since major shipbuilding countries like South Korea, China, Vietnam and Singapore are showing less interest in building small ocean going vessels, European buyers are now showing interest towards newer yet experienced sources, and Bangladesh is definitely one of these sources which can claim preference.

Steel is the heart and soul of industries and structures that define life across the globe today. At steelmark, this amazing alloy has been our passion for the last 50 years. With a vision to help build strong, rewarding structures and business in the country, Steelmark has served as an integral part of many businesses which today are considered as key players and contributors in the economy of Bangladesh.

This comfort zone with steel is what gave us the confidence to explore our possibilities further. The global shipbuilding scenario seemed like the perfect challenge for us, and we set out to look into the matter in detail.

What followed next took 5 long years of homework alone. The process was hectic and the people involved uncompromising, but today, with the most able crew in the country behind the project, we have already started on a journey that will enable steel structures from Bangladesh to sail across the seven seas right out of the docks of ‘Maritimus’.

The location of Maritimus has been carefully chosen to ensure quick and low cost transportation of shipbuilding material. Careful thought has been put into the actual design of the layout to ensure maximum efficiency, safety and conservation of the surrounding natural environment. In addition, special care has been taken to enable the shipyard to add value to the lives and lifestyles of not only those who will operate it, but also to surrounding communities.

Safety

The steel stacking area is easily accessible by road vehicles as well as the goods handling jetty. Steel plates and sections will be transported to subsequent areas either by overhead traveling cranes or on carts running over rails. The heavier pieces of equipment are to be transported by suitable fork lifts or overhead transporters. The layout ensures minimum crisscrossing in way of movement of heavy loads and well defined routes for material and personnel movement too. Safety is taken a step farther than what the layout alone can offer by adopting safety procedures that will strictly be followed at all times.

A well equipped and efficient fire fighting system has been introduced to cope with all types of fires shipyards are vulnerable to. The grit blasting space is well covered and paint stores are isolated as far away from each other as possible. Among other measures to minimize pollution, plantations have been designed to keep sound levels as low as possible. To minimize the damage shipyards tend to inflict on the environment even more, sandblasting has been avoided altogether.

Selection of equipment

Shipyard is a comprehensive industry and equipment need to be selected to efficiently serve all aspects of shipbuilding. However, the core equipment will consist of a shot blasting and priming plant to ensure that the base materials are prepared suitable. CNC plate cutting machines to ensure the quick, flawless cutting of steel plates for timely production, overhead traveling cranes of suitable capacity to handle blocks, planes of suitable size to match the intended size of the vessel being built, welding machines to produce welding of required quality at the shortest possible time without need of any re-work and efficient plate and section bending machines will also add to our list of powerful equipment to help our production facilities reach world class standards. In addition, special shipbuilding tools like block transporters and he-jackels for the movement and alignment of heavy blocks and appropriate equipment for precision work and machine tools will also be used extensively.

Maritimus has a clear understanding about the importance of quality in shipbuilding. Our policy, therefore, is directed towards achieving the best quality in all our projects. The first step towards ensuring quality is to acquire the necessary knowledge and understanding of quality regulation and requirements. It is followed by steps that include compliance with production systems and finally, execution of tests and analysis to ensure that the desired quality has been achieved.

Thus Maritimus has started sourcing and compiling various quality standard documents of classification societies like IMO, ISO etc. A strong Information Bank is being developed by the Quality Assurance Department of the company which can be easily accessed by all departments, especially persons related to production.

Each job is to be described and instructed along with the quality requirements and quality control measures. Termination of any job will not be accepted until all requirements of quality control, including owners’ requirement, if any, have been met. There will be an NDT department to conduct in-house tests and regular arrangements will be made with laboratories for specialized tests that are not available on the yard.

Results of various tests will be analyzed to ensure better quality in subsequent projects and avoid similar errors in future. There will be regular inter-departmental deliberations and information exchange on quality management. The quality requirement information bank will be regularly updated to incorporate various amendments enacted from time to time.

Classification Societies have a mandated role to play in the inspection and certification of quality in the shipbuilding process. However, in the context of Bangladesh and especially in case of Greenfield shipyards, there is a synergy to be created between Classification Societies and shipyards. The objective is to combine the skills and experience available in the two groups to enable ships to be built in time with proper quality. Maritimus would thus have the direct involvement and guidance of Classification Societies from the earliest stages of development of the shipyard facilities on one hand and in the basic planning stages of individual shipbuilding contract execution processes on the other. Fortunately, this culture of synergy already exists in the shipbuilding industry in Bangladesh where the Classification Societies are greatly helping the yards in every possible aspect.

Maritimus is developing in two fronts - organizational and physical facilities. It is the ability to deliver quality ships within contracted time that defines the success of a shipyard. Maritimus is developing an organization as well as an Organogram where the different types of jobs and functions in a shipyard have been identified in order to determine how dedicated groups in charge of each function can interact and operate in close collaboration with each other for rewarding results. These relationships are fed into an Organogram yielding manpower and skill-requirements for smooth operations within the shipyard.

An essential element in this program is a Human Resource Development program. The HRD team is to cover the entire spectrum of activities within a shipyard beginning from holistic planning to skills required at the floor level. One of the major benefits a shipyard can offer is the large–scale employment of skilled manpower. Therefore, skill development has to be a major component of any shipyard program. In the current perspective, a shipyard in Bangladesh will not be able to cater to its own manpower requirements by developing resources for itself. There are demands for skilled manpower outside Bangladesh in countries like Singapore, Dubai as well as the United States. Maritimus will be working on a HRD program capable of taking care of needs of both national and foreign ends in a way that will enable the company to contribute to greater social benefits.

Local people have been kept in mind as much as shipyard personnel while planning for community services. Well- equipped medical service facilities, a school and a playground are among our numerous attempts that will help cater to basic needs of the people in the localities around the shipyard. As a Greenfield shipyard, Maritimus has employed all skills and experiences for developing the facilities which will enable us to take care of our Corporate Social Responsibilities.

As a Greenfield Shipyard Maritimus would like to start by building simple ships such as Multi Purpose Vessels (MPV), container ships, harbor tugs etc. The people behind the shipyard have been handpicked according to their exposure in the construction processes of such types of vessels. However, Maritimus strongly believes that undertaking the building of more complex vessels such as tankers, offshore supply vessels, anchor handling tugs or even chemical tankers, though difficult, is not impossible. Maritimus itself will not handle the basic design stages of even the simple ships but will procure services from appropriate export houses in Europe or Japan for necessary assistance in preparing estimates, procurement, development of special skills that are required for building such vessels, compilation of relevant quality control documents and everything special related to such ships.

At Maritimus, we believe that no skill is impossible to develop and that the proper planning skill is the key to gaining success in shipbuilding. Well planned beginnings, no matter how small, eventually lead to bigger, more rewarding endings, and by following our long range capacity development program closely, we confidently look forward to entering the world of high performance as well as small naval shipbuilding in the days to come.

 

Company		Maritimus Limited
Location		on the west bank of river Meghna, Char Kisharganj,
		Sonargaon, Narayanganj, Bangladesh
Area		50 Acres
Capacity		10,000 MT steel works per year
Head Office		2nd floor, Rahat Tower,
		14, Biponon C/A, West Banglamotor Link Road,
		Dhaka -1000, Bangladesh.
Tel		(0088) 02 9661750
Fax		(0088) 02 9661751
E-mail		info@maritimusltd.com
Web		www.maritimusltd.com
For further information, please contact us at your convenience.