Public Project
Life at Shipyard
Copyright
Joy Saha
2024
Updated Feb 2024
With dozens of shipyards, Keraniganj on the bank of the river Buriganga that flows past the southwest outskirts of Dhaka now seems a mega-hub for building and repairing small vessels, launches, and steamers. Hundreds of workers dismantle the cargo ships and cruisers that are no longer in use to reuse their parts in new or repaired ones around the clock. The workers usually break down the massive ships as well as create new ships from the parts. Workers can be seen with the torches and the welding equipment doing their job of departing huge pieces of metal sheets from the vessels. Some can be seen busy in painting ships or making propellers of large ships. Others can be seen strolling along the high edges of the ship decks. The only thing keeping them away from falling down is their own balance. Besides, there are some workshops making and repairing small parts of a ship. Proper safety of the workers seems not to be ensured in this yard and that’s why injuries are common things to occur here but the process and the activities never stop. Bangladeshi shipbuilders are confident of their competitive advantage over their rivals, pointing to the large numbers of skilled workers and low labor costs.
