The new bulk shipping offering will also oversee cargo operations to the Indian subcontinent, South-East Asia, and other global destinations, Abu Dhabi’s AD Ports Group, which owns Safeen Feeders, said.
“Leveraging Safeen Feeders’ expertise as a leading maritime service provider, as well as the advanced capabilities of its modernized fleet, Saif is well-positioned to accelerate the trade of dry construction materials between the UAE and Bangladesh, along with other dry cargo goods to key markets across the region and beyond,” Capt. Maktoum Al Houqani, CEO Maritime Cluster, AD Ports Group, said.
The International Monetary Fund forecasts real GDP growth of 6.5% for Dhaka in 2022. With a population of 168 million people, Bangladesh’s economy was booming until the coronavirus pandemic hit, after witnessing real growth of 8.2% in 2019, and is now preparing for a new burst of development. Platts said that Bangladesh was the world’s fifth-biggest wheat importer in 2019.
Set up in 2020 in a tie-up with Singapore’s Bengal Tiger Line, Safeen Feeders has launched two main container services. The weekly UAE Indian Sub-Continent Gulf (UIG) service is a “pendulum” service of three 1,700 teu vessels on a 21-day rotation calling at Khalifa Port, Sharjah, Bahrain, Dammam, Umm Qasr, Karachi, Mundra, Kandla, and Nhava Sheva. Its weekly UAE Coast & Oman (UCO) service offers a 1,000 teu vessel calling at Khalifa Port, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah, and Sohar.
In a fact sheet shared with Seatrade Maritime News, Safeen Feeders said that, as of March, its container fleet consisted of nine container ships, eight owned and one chartered in.
“We are pleased to announce the start of our close partnership with AD Ports Group’s Safeen Feeders, which has greatly enhanced our capabilities as Bangladesh’s sole terminal operator to facilitate the movement of dry cargo at the international level,” Tarafder MD Ruhul Amin, Managing Director Saif Powertec, said.
According to Safeen Feeders’ own website, in addition to 18 tugs, its fleet also includes seven pilot boats, seven speedboats, one buoy maintenance vessel, one diving supply vessel and two oil spill response boats. Safeen Feeders’ bulk carriers will be offered on a bareboat or time charter basis.
