On Tuesday, July 11, Damen hosted a dredging seminar in Dhaka, Bangladesh attended by more than 100 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.
Damen said it 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.
At the seminar, guest of honor Her Excellency 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 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 organizing the next Dredging Seminar in 2018.