Foreign Direct Investment and the Shipbuilding Industry: A Bangladesh Perspective

Traditionally, Bangladesh has been a shipbuilding country. Bangladesh had exported ships even in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The modern shipbuilding industry started since the period in Bangladesh in mid 1950s, and has made some progress since then and also attracted foreign buyers. It took a number of years before the country could register its name as an ocean-going shipbuilder. The Bangladesh Shipbuilding Industry got a spurt in 2008 when a 2,900 DWT ocean-going ship was exported from Bangladesh. Bangladesh created a new history for the export sectors of the nation. Almost exclusively, the Ready Made Garment (RMG) has been the largest export sector in Bangladesh. There is both a necessity and opportunity for expansion to other sectors and to widen the export base. Shipbuilding is an opportunity, which can grow into a billion-dollar industry in a single decade. Analyzing the micro economic factors, present study describes the segment of the market where Bangladesh enjoys the highest advantage and to draw out a strategy for exploitation of the potential. The present study also identifies that attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a necessity for exposure to market, infusing management as well as technology and much needed finance.