Navy’s Third LCT Built at Khulna Shipyard Launched into River

Khulna Shipyard has successfully finished building three LCTs for the Bangladesh Navy. The shipyard recently completed the third and last vessel of this fleet. Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Material) Rear Admiral Mohammad Maksud Alam opened the launch ceremony in the Rupsha River beside the shipyard.

The Managing Director of Khulna Shipyard and senior officers of the Navy and the shipyard attended the ceremony. The warship is about 245 feet long and 45 feet wide. In amphibious operations of the Army and the Navy, it can carry 350 military members, including special forces. It can also carry six tanks, 12 armoured personnel carriers (APCs) or 18 military vehicles.

The shipyard authorities hope the vessel will play an important role in moving special forces during amphibious operations. They also expect it to carry heavy military equipment to coastal islands. A Canadian design house prepared the design, and the vessel is built with AH steel. It has two American Caterpillar engines of 3,004 horsepower.

The vessel displaces 1,505 tons of water and can run at about 28 kilometres per hour. It also has two French generators, each with a capacity of 340 kVA. Khulna Shipyard signed the contract with the Directorate General of Defence Purchase to build the three vessels in 2022. The contract set the completion date for June this year.

The shipyard finished the work within the set time. It had already delivered two vessels, and a few days ago it completed the third and last one with this launch. The shipyard works under the control of the Navy. It has built more than 800 vessels of different types, including warships, and has repaired about 3,000 vessels, including dredgers.

The shipyard built the first warships made in the country, which are five Patrol Craft and two Large Patrol Craft. With help from the Chinese technical and consulting company CSOC, it built five more Patrol Craft. At present, work on four dredgers for BIWTA is in its final stage. The shipyard is also building several vessels for Mongla, Payra and Chattogram seaports.

With Chinese technical help, the shipyard has set up a modern rubber factory. It has its own design house for rubber items and modern CNC machines for mould fabrication. It also has rolling and kneader extruder machines for production and a calender machine for fabric rubber sheets. A blasting machine processes metal rubber items, and a high capacity hydraulic press handles vulcanising.

The shipyard has also set up a full rubber test lab with many test equipment items. This lab checks the highest quality of semi finished and finished products. As a result, the factory has become a world class marine rubber maker. It has already made and fitted rubber fenders for the jetty of Mongla Port.

Khulna Shipyard has also finished two Water Development Board projects with its own funds of more than Tk 1,500 crore. These projects stop river erosion at Naria in Shariatpur and at the Kirtankhola River in Barishal. The shipyard is also finishing child family buildings for the Department of Social Services. It has also stopped erosion of the Padma River in Rajbari and dredged the Garai River in Kushtia.