Bangladesh Shipping Corporation – Golden Jubilee

Bangladesh Shipping Corporation – Golden Jubilee

by Ghulam Suhrawardi 8 February 2022

BSC’s 50^th anniversary aka “Golden Jubilee” is upon us. Some seafarers want to celebrate it. I would like to celebrate too. But I wanted to clear up some matters before we jump into this celebratory mindset.

It is almost 50 years ago, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation was formed from the ruins of united Pakistan’s demise. A pioneer mariner, Captain QABM Rahman was one of the founders of this great organization. At the time, it felt great. I was proud of this entity called BSC.

In May of 1971, I defected from a Pakistani flagged ship “Ocean Endeavor” in Baltimore, USA. I was the only East Pakistani Deck Officer aboard the vessel. Quitely, I came off the gangway at 4 AM. That was the beginning of my accepting Bangladeshi identity. In 1962, I was selected for a Cadet College in Murree Hills, Pakistan. I was 12 years old. Since that time, I knew I had nothing in common with the people from the western wing. My defection from the vessel in 1971 was not an economic defection as some people may think. I wanted to join the liberation forces. Lots of water passed under the bridge since then. One day, I will write it up in a book format.

In 1971, my heart was clean, and I had a dream of Bangladesh where we will not only be free but prosper as a nation. Prosperity we are doing, and I am very proud of that. With prosperity, we got a malignant tumor – Corruption, and a blatant disregard for our nation.

Now about BSC. Chapter one was great. The founding fathers of the corporation had a dream. I personally happen to know some of them. When I ask them, whether their dream come true? They give a long quizzical stare at me. It does not seem to be a good question, I get the feeling.  There is pain on their faces. I realize the discussion will lead to exposing a lot of wounds.

I know, many of our BMA (Bangladesh Marine Academy) alumni have precious memories of BSC. It gave them hope, a life, and a career. I would ask them, in lieu of what they received, what did they give back? The corporation was formed with public funds aka taxpayers money. The management including the ship’s officers had a responsibility to serve the people and give back; at least what they received.  How many of us can say, we did that?

Blaming other people is like throwing stones in darkness. It does not absolve our responsibilities. Do the mariners who worked in BSC ever feel, they destroyed a dream? A dream, the founders had in mind. Yet; we like to celebrate the Golden Jubilee. Seriously; can we, in the right mind, think this is appropriate?

Celebrations are always good for people. Because it gives them moral strength and pride in what they created or achieved. What did we create? Or, shall I say what did we destroy?

Once again, the taxpayers came up with the money to start off fresh with brand new ships. We want to celebrate. Before we do that, we should first thank the citizens for investing in our dream. They earned this money with sweat and blood. By serving BSC, we should always remember, we are supposed to serve the people, and not loot their property.

It is about time, we mariners analyze what brought the downfall of BSC? What was the contribution of the BMA alumni in making BSC a great organization – if ever it was. Hailing it as a job-creating organization at the taxpayer’s money is very easy to do.  Dark chapters and failures of the public-funded organizations should be investigated properly and saved for posterity.

Civil servants, bureaucrats, and top-heavy administration from the Navy are an obvious phenomenon in the shipping sector of Bangladesh. Most of them learn on the job; either become silent observers or an obstacle to the growth of a fundamentally strong organization. Professional management must include Master Mariners, Marine Engineers working in conjunction with commercially experienced personnel. This coterie must be developed.

‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ means that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to change the way a person does something when they have been doing it the same way for many years. In other words, you can’t change someone’s long-established ways, especially if they are ego-filled management. Perhaps, we should start with younger graduates of the Marine Academy and train them to go up the ladder; “step by step”.

Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) of Singapore was a very efficient organization. It was owned by the Singapore government. Their success was embedded in the professionalism of the general public in Singapore – their honesty and respect for the tiny nation. Can we train a new cadre of management trainees that can emulate Singapore? That is a challenge, but we must look into that model if we want to run a state-run enterprise like BSC into success.

Our future generations should learn honesty and hard work before talking about their proud heritage in BSC and similar public-funded corporations. 

It is BMA alumni who benefited the most when they just started off at the sea career. We must not forget, many of them managed this organization, misappropriated funds, and mismanaged the corporation. They did not object or expose the corruption of the top management. As a good citizen one has the duty to serve their nation well and honestly. The enticement to corruption is still very great. Can we overcome this? Did we create a young generation that can fix this corrupted mindset?  Only then, we can celebrate. Celebrate a success – that is, Bangladesh.

The optimism in BSC started with the acquisitions of six new buildings from China under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between China National Machinery Export and Export Corporation and BSC, in June 2012. They include MV Banglar Joyjatra, MV Banglar Shomridhi, MV Banglar Orjon, Banglar Agrojatra, Banglar Agradut and Banglar Agrogot. The total cost for the construction was 1843 crore takas of which China Exim Bank loaned Tk 1448 crores with the remaining Tk 395 crores provided from the BSC’s own funds. How long will this optimism will last is anybody’s guess. All indications are that it may become a repeat performance like in the past.