Ship building industry sources said since countries like South Korea and Singapore are becoming less interested in building such ships, European buyers are now coming to Bangladesh, China and India.

Bangladesh can be a major builder of large ocean-going ships if the government allows duty free import of steel, the basic raw material for ship building industry, they say.

Duty free import of steel can be allowed against a bond system that the material would be used only for export purposes, and it would create scope for huge export orders facilitating use of the country's cheap labour force, experts noted.

"We have world class expertise and skilled labour force for ship building. The only requirement now is government's policy support. If given, this sector can earn billions of dollars of foreign currency every year," said one expert.

These days European buyers are frequently coming to visit ship building plants in Chittagong and place orders for ocean-going ships," said Sakhawat Hossain, managing director of Western Marine Shipyard Ltd.

"European buyers are showing keen interest in the development of ship building industry here, and this would help harness our cheap labour force," he added.

The plant received an order worth $11 million for a 2,600-tonne capacity ship recently. Buyers visited the plant and confirmed the order for the multi-purpose vessel, according to plant sources.

Besides, negotiation is going on for building a tug vessel at a cost of $ 4.5 million. A Singaporean buyer visited the plant and expressed satisfaction. The deal might be finalised within a couple of weeks, the source said.

Earlier, Ananda Ship Builders at Meghna Ghat got foreign orders for cargo ships worth $10-12 million.

Another company, Karnaphuli Ship Builders, built a number of tugboats named Kandari for Chittagong Port Authority (CPA). Previously, such boats used to be imported from Denmark. The company also repaired several large ships belonging to Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC).

"Many ships built here are of international standard because those are built under the supervision of International Classification Society and also under the guidance of the government's Mercantile Marine Department," said Captain Habibur Rahman, principal officer of the department.

It is not a difficult job for local experts to build large ships on the basis of plans and drawings provided by foreign buyers, he mentioned.

Experts pointed out that ship building in East Asian countries has become costly due to high wages of workers. The industry is gradually shifting towards developing countries mainly for availability of cheap labour force.

Vietnam is now one of the main destinations of foreign ship buyers. But all ship building plants in that country have been booked until 2010. This sector developed in Singapore with labour force from Bangladesh.

Around 80 per cent of workers in Singapore ship building industry are from Bangladesh, said the owner of a local ship building plant who visited Singapore plants in the sector several times.

Expansion and development of this industry in Bangladesh is being impeded due to high cost of importing raw materials, industry sources say. "The sector can flourish rapidly and generate huge employment if the government allows back to back letter of credit (L/C) system for importing steel," Sakhawat Hossain said.

Local ship building plants are mainly in private sector and located on the banks of the Karnaphuli in Chittagong and the Meghna in Narayanganj.

A vessel named Keari Sindabad that plies between Teknaf and coral island Saint Martin's carrying tourists, and another vessel -- Sarina Cruise -- used for river cruise of foreign guests at hotel Sarina, show the standard of locally built ships.