Damen hosts dredging seminar in Bangladesh

This week, 11th July 2017, DAMEN successfully hosted a dredging seminar in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The event was attended by over 100 enthusiastic representatives from the Dutch Embassy in Bangladesh, experts from the Bangladesh Government, the Bangladesh Navy, local financing institutions, various customers of DAMEN and other industry stakeholders, the Group said in a press release.

Damen has enjoyed great successes all over the world in the sale of its dredging equipment, including Trailing Suction Hopper Dredgers, Cutter Suction Dredgers and renowned DOP pumps. This has included a number of contracts in Bangladesh, a relationship DAMEN expects to see continuing as the country plans a number of projects for the near future.

The location of Bangladesh, on the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta, coupled with a climate that often results in cyclones and flooding, ensures that both maintenance dredging in ports and rivers and dredging to create new land are important activity in the country. Add to this the fact that the river network is used extensively for the transportation of goods and dredging becomes crucially important to the economic well-being of Bangladesh.

Damen Regional Sales Director Rabien Bahadoer spoke of Damen’s relationship with the country, saying, “We have had a presence in Bangladesh since the 1970s. There are quite a number of DAMEN vessels in operation in the country from that time of which some are still in function. We want to support growth in Bangladesh with quality equipment, dedicated services and proper training. In order to support our fast growing fleet of dredgers, workboats and tugboats, DAMEN further invests in expanding its local service centre with a modern workshop, skilled service engineers and local availability of crucial spares; all to maximise the uptime of our equipment. Also, as part of our commitment to the country and the collaboration with the Government, DAMEN is working closely with local shipyards to build vessels in the region, a process by which Dutch shipbuilding technology is transferred to local stakeholders.”

At the seminar, guest of honour Her Excellency Ms. Leoni Cuelenaere, the Dutch Ambassador to Bangladesh, shared her views on the Dutch perspective of dredging in Bangladesh. In addition, Damen’s Product Director Dredging, Olivier Marcus, presented key points on efficient Project Management of dredging contracts and Wouter Breekman, Manager DAMEN Services Bangladesh, discussed the importance of local services, maintenance and continuous training. Furthermore Dr. S. M. Akbar of UBICO Investments gave his view of how the financial sector is looking at the dredging industry, and Mr. Gazi Golam Rabbani, Chairman of well-reputed Dhaka Dockyard & Engineering Works, shared his views on the future of shipbuilding in Bangladesh.

With all of the recently delivered dredgers in Bangladesh and the positive feedback from the seminar, DAMEN is looking forward to organising the next Dredging Seminar in 2018.