Man welding a part of a ship in bangladesh

The Shipbuilding industry is an important economic and industrial sector in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a maritime nation with 9,000 sq km of territorial waters, 720 km long coastline. It has 700 rivers that come down from the surrounding countries and which provide 24000 km long inland waterways. At present about 10,000 inland and coastal ships have been plying all over the country, which carry more than 90% of total oil product, 70% of cargo and 35% of passengers. More than 150,000 skilled and semi-skilled workers are employed in this labour-intensive sector. Two million people are related directly or indirectly to the shipbuilding industry. All inland and coastal ships are constructed and repaired locally in Bangladeshi shipyards. Recently Bangladesh has successfully exported her first ocean-going ship to a high-end market like Denmark competing with giant competitors like China, India and Vietnam in 2008. Few local shipyards are capable of making ships up to 10,000 DWT (deadweight tonne) as per international standards. Info source: Banglapedia.