Bangladesh Maritime History

Having a long seacoast and many rivers that connect to the Bay of Bengal Bangladesh is a well known as a maritime nation. Over 90% of its goods are transported via waterways. This makes shipping and prudent seafarers most important factor for the development of the economy.

During the British Colonial period Bangladeshi sefareres earned a good reputation in British and other foreign flag vessels due to their hard work, and honesty. About 50000 Bangladeshi seafarers were serving on various foreign sea vessels from ports of Calcutta, Mumbai, Yangoon. Singapore, Colombo, and others, before the partition of India.

Maritime activities in Bangladesh are mainly divided into two sectors. One is for Sea going vessels in international waters, and the other is for smaller ships which operate in the inland waterways. There are also five government maritime training institutions, and three private maritime training institution offering maritime courses in different grades and areas.

The Department of Shipping (DOS) is responsible for supervising and monitoring the requisite International Standard of the Public and Private Sector Maritime Institutes regularly. The present organization set-up is shown as below.