Rejoinder and our reply

The Association of Export Oriented Shipbuilding Industries of Bangladesh's (AEOSIB) president has claimed that the report "Western Marine fails to build ship, now sued by Dubai co" published on 6 February misquoted him.

In a rejoinder dated 10 February, the association said "the actual comment [of the AEOSIB president] has been misquoted and twisted and our shipbuilding sector's image has been highly hampered in the global market.

The rejoinder said its president actually said, "The issue may happen to any of the shipyards in our country and needs to be taken care of on an immediate basis."

The rejoinder also said: "Each and every shipyard has been working hard to get buyers' orders. Getting ship orders is not a silly issue. But your newspaper reporter has overlooked the comments. Even he has mentioned the govt and other stakeholders should help the shipyard finalise the order. Falsifying his statement will turmoil the image of this shipbuilding sector."

Our reply

The AEOSIB president's allegation of misquoting his comment is not true. TBS just wrote what he said and we have supportive recordings of his statement.

Western Marine's rejoinder

In another rejoinder to the same report, the Western Marine Shipyard Limited claimed that the TBS report is misleading and objectionable.

This report is utterly misleading, devoid of facts and figures, tarnishing the image of Bangladesh and hence objectionable. Upon noting the report, the WMSL management is hereby compelled to express its dissent against the contents and the context as well, as it has not been articulated on substantially documented facts and figures.

The Western Marine rejoinder said: "Out of the total contract amounts, so far WMSL has received US$90,000 only. These amounts have been judiciously spent purely on these vessels only, including the salaries and daily wages of the personnel. It is, therefore, evident that the alleged claim of $5 million is not justified at all, in the aforesaid context.

"So, the said allegation that – in spite of adequate payment made to WMSL by ARSL, the constructions have not started – is not true and out of context.

"The basic fact is that WMSL has completed 67% of the offshore project and has progressed in the construction of the tankers.

"With regard to the import of engines, it is important to know that ARSL made the premature and too early shipment of the engines, without consulting and complying with the time plan of the construction. WMSL had a hard time in preparing the essential documents for the engines in the port, and obviously, that was delayed by 3 months, involving expenses beyond the agreement, the onus of which undeniably lies with ARSL solely."

Our reply

We ran the report based on the claims made in the petition filed with the High Court by the Dubai-based company Al Rashid Shipping Ltd.

In the petition, Al Rashid Shipping stated that the demanded sum included payments made so far, expenses incurred, loss of profit, interest, and legal expenses.

So, we stand by our report.