Saif to run container vessels on UAE-Ctg

Saif Powertec entered a deal with Abu Dhabi-based Safeen Feeders yesterday to run three container feeder vessels on the Bangladesh-United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other international routes.

Dubai-based subsidiary Saif Maritime LLC will charter the vessels from the concern of AD Ports Group for 15 years, said Md Salehin, company secretary of Saif Powertec.

A listed company with interests in ports, logistics, civil engineering and power, Saif Powertec is the deal's guarantor, according to a disclosure at Dhaka Stock Exchange.

Each vessel has a capacity ranging from 1,700 to 2100 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units).

Saif Powertec estimates that the freight revenue per vessel would be around $20 million or about Tk 200 crore per annum while net profit $2.50 million, or around Tk 25 crore.

Tarafder Md Ruhul Amin, managing director of Saif Powertec, and Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, managing director and group CEO of AD Ports Group, inked the agreement in the UAE, said a press statement of AD Ports Group.

Another agreement was signed in February over collaborating on cargo services between Fujairah of the UAE and Bangladesh for 15 years.

It was on availing eight Supramax cargo carriers of 55,000 deadweight tonnage for carrying dry bulk cargo such as coal, steel and fertiliser, said a senior official.

Saif Powertec so far has chartered three of the vessels.

The agreement also covers scopes of future collaboration to jointly develop and invest in maritime infrastructure and projects of Bangladesh and the UAE, according to AD Ports Group.

Saif Powertec already handles export and import containers by operating Chattogram Container Terminal and New Mooring Container Terminal at the Chattogram port.

It is also building a multimodal container depot on land of Bangladesh Railway at Halishahar in the port city and a multipurpose jetty at the Mongla port.