A Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) vessel has docked in the US for the first time since a crew deserted their ship there in 1991.
The shipowner has maintained an unofficial ban on trips to the US since the incident involving the Bangla Mamata, the Business Standard reported.
A total of 14 sailors disappeared into the country. A chief engineer dispatched from Bangladesh to fetch them back also absconded.
The incident hurt the image of the country as well as the reputation of BSC.
The vessel was later brought back, but no further calls have been made since that time.
Until the 39,000-dwt Bangladesh-flag tanker Banglar Agragoti (built 2019) docked in Houston on 5 March, that is.
The vessel is next due in New Orleans after unloading cane molasses.
The tanker will then take a 33,000-tonne cargo of soybean oil to India.
Pijush Dutta, executive director of commerce at BSC, told the Business Standard: “To enter a US port, ships need to be of world class quality. There are many inspections.”
“Overall quality including the safety mechanism in the current fleet of BSC ships is very good. These are equipped with all kinds of facilities to enter any top quality port in the world,” he added.
Higher security
Dutta explained that security systems on vessels are now quite different to what existed in 1991, making it impossible for crew members to disappear.
“Recently a BSC oil tanker, Banglar Agradoot, has shipped goods to an Australian port. This is also a great achievement,” said the BSC official.
The Banglar Agragoti has 27 Bangladeshi seafarers on board.
BSC started shipping goods to the US with the Banglar Maan in 1977.
The fleet shrank to two vessels in 2018, but a total of eight new ships have been added since then at a cost of BDT 18.43bn ($216m).
Three of these are bulkers and three are tankers.
A crewman was killed on BSC's 39,000-dwt bulker Banglar Samriddhi (built 2018) in shelling in Ukraine earlier this month.
