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The government is set to buy six more ocean-going ships from China to expand the fleet of state-run Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, officials said.
The purchase is intended to meet the growing demand for large vessels for the corporation.
To expedite the process, the ministry of shipping has started negotiations with a Chinese consortium.
"We've started the process of procuring six ocean-going ships from China for the Shipping Corporation," a high official of the ministry, who is involved in negotiations, told the FE.
He said that at a meeting on the activities of the corporation last week, the ministry decided to go for the purchase of Chinese ships.
The shipping ministry official also said out of six ships, two will be 'crude oil mother tankers,' another two will be 'product oil mother tankers' and the rest 'mother bulk carriers.'
He said the ships will be procured under Chinese government's financial assistance.
Earlier, the Shipping Ministry had also procured six ocean going ships from China for the corporation.
The earlier procurement was three bulk carriers and three product oil tankers.
The bulk carriers were procured on July 27, October 10 and December 30 last year respectively while the product oil tankers were bought on January 25, March 1 and May 25 respectively.
The total costs for procuring ships were over Tk 16.37 billion.
Of the amount, the Chinese government had provided Tk 15.27 billion while its Bangladeshi counterpart bore the rest.
The corporation earned Tk 1.47 billion until August 2019 from the six ships, procured from China.