বাংলাদেশ শিপিং কর্পোরেশন

Under the President's Order No. 10, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) was established on 05 February 1972 as the only national flag carrier ocean-going state-owned shipping company. The newly formed Bangladesh government took this historic initiative to ensure the economic prosperity of the independent nation. Within four months of BSC’s establishment, the first vessel, M.V. Banglar Doot, joined the BSC fleet on 10 June 1972. As part of the government’s broader initiatives to rebuild the nation, a comprehensive plan was undertaken to develop a strong national flag carrier fleet enriched with various types of vessels. Following this visionary plan, a total of 46 vessels have been added to the BSC fleet till today. In recent years, BSC has further strengthened its capacity by purchasing two modern vessels through its own financing, demonstrating the Corporation’s growing financial strength and operational capability. At present, BSC is proudly carrying the national flag worldwide through its fleet consisting of Six mixed-type vessels. To make the operational activities of the Corporation more dynamic and efficient, the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation Act, 2017 has been enacted by the National Parliament. According to clause 4(1) Bangladesh Shipping Corporation Act 2017, (Act No.10 of 2017), it shall be the function of the Corporation to provide safe and efficient maritime trade services by international waterways and to increase regional cooperation, commercial or business transactions and, in addition to these, to take over and operate any undertaking and its movable or immovable properties vested in this Corporation, by notification in the official Gazette issued by the Government.

As per above Law Corporation shall, in particular, reserve the following powers, namely:-

(a) To acquire, hire, charter, hold or transfer ships or vessels;

(b) To be engaged in any function including the business transactions or to establish any organization for such purposes or to be affiliated with such organizations, within the scope of operation of the Corporation, in or outside Bangladesh;

(c) To repair, build, recondition or assemble ships, vessels and other similar vehicles;

(d) To perform the tasks of adjusting machinery and spare parts of ships, vessels and other similar vehicles, assembling and manufacturing of machinery, and to perform repair works for reconditioning thereof;

(e) To establish or to make arrangements for establishing any institute for providing instructions and training for the potential candidates for employment or the persons employed in shipping-related activities or ancillary thereto;

(f) To acquire, develop, expand and hold or transfer of any movable or immovable property: Provided that no movable or immovable property shall be acquired or transferred without the approval of the Government;

(g) To operate own workshops for repairing ships or vessels and, through the workshops, to repair own ships and any other domestic or foreign ships if needed;

(h) To acquire ships, vessels or naval crafts through ownership or joint ventures or any other arrangements and to conduct any other business related thereto;

(i) To appoint shipping agents in the ports of the country and abroad;

(j) To open and operate bank accounts in the country and abroad for performing commercial and business activities of the Corporation;

(k) To perform such other functions as may be assigned by the Government by notification in the official Gazette.