Bangladesh's main shipbuilder said yesterday it had won a $100m contract to build eight vessels, a deal seen as helping pave the way for the nation to emerge as a major shipbuilder. Ananda Shipyards Shipways Ltd (ASSL) signed the joint deal with two German companies earlier this month to build eight ships with capacity for 325 containers by June 2010, company Chairman Abdullahel Bari said. Announcement of the deal comes after Western Marine, another shipbuilder in the southeastern port city of Chittagong, last week clinched an 11-million-dollar order to build a tugboat for a Singapore company. Riverine Bangladesh has been known for its small ferry-making industry since its independence in 1971. Most of the country's nearly 3,000 ferries were made in the country's shipyards.
