- Business
- Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (DSE: BSC) is the state-owned national flag carrier of Bangladesh, providing ocean-going maritime freight transport, chartering, vessel agency, and marine engineering services. Founded on February 5, 1972, under the Ministry of Shipping and headquartered in Chattogram, Bangladesh, the corporation facilitates national and international seaborne trade. The company operates across multiple commercial shipping segments, offering dry bulk cargo transportation for agricultural commodities, fertilizers, and industrial raw materials; ocean crude oil carriage and offshore lightering services transferring petroleum from mother vessels to coastal refineries; chemical and refined product tanker operations; international time chartering, voyage chartering, and spot tramping arrangements; liner and feeder shipping solutions; port agency, customs brokerage, and stevedoring services; and marine vessel repair, dry-docking support, and structural fabrication through its proprietary BSC Marine Workshop. Geographically, the corporation conducts operations across international sea routes connecting South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Australia, and the Americas, while maintaining domestic lighterage operations at Chattogram and the Kutubdia outer anchorage. In recent developments, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation has undertaken an aggressive fleet modernization and expansion program aimed at scaling its commercial fleet to more than 20 mother vessels by 2030 to bolster national supply chain security. Supported by record annual earnings, the corporation recently expanded its active operational fleet with the delivery of the ultramax bulk carriers MV Banglar Pragati in October 2025 and MV Banglar Nabajatra in January 2026, representing the first commercial vessel acquisitions in the company's history financed entirely through internal cash reserves. In addition, the corporation has established Government-to-Government procurement frameworks and financing pacts with Chinese partners and multilateral institutions, including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, to acquire 114,000 DWT crude oil tankers, 81,500 DWT bulk carriers, cellular container vessels, and medium-range product tankers.