Char Kaliganj, Bangladesh: Work is booming at Bangladesh's largest shipyard - quite literally. It's difficult to hear anything over the cacophony of banging hammers and crackling sparks, proof the industry has withstood the economic shockwaves wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
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In this nation of 168 million people, much of the low-lying land is accessed via boat. Rivers are Bangladesh's lifeblood, and strong economic growth in recent years has fueled more investments in new and bigger ships.
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Every corner of the Char Kaliganj yard is filled with vessels under repair, and the air is thick with the acrid smell of oil and chemicals.
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"The dockyards were closed in... the coronavirus lockdown. But now business is booming," said worker Abul Kashem, 66, saying he has never seen the yard south of Dhaka busier.
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A dockyard worker makes a propeller of a ship.
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The 15,000 workers sometimes toil seven days a week to meet the demand, said Masud Hossain Palash, who heads the Bangladesh Dockyard and Shipyard Owners Association.
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"Well into the 1980s, these dockyards would only make... one-storey or one-and-a-half storey wooden ferries," Kashem recalled. Now their work includes oil tankers and bulk carriers.
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Passenger ferry ships are seen moored on the Buriganga River in Dhaka.
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The shipyard sector has soared on the back of the strong economy, together with the textile industry which has made Bangladesh the world's second-largest garment exporter.
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Gross domestic product grew by 8.2 percent last year and the hit from the coronavirus pandemic is expected to be less severe than in other developing economies.
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A dockyard worker welds a structure on the bow of a ship.
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Bangladesh's GDP per capita is also expected to surpass that of its giant neighbour India this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.
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A dockyard worker carries maintenance works on the hull of a ship.
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a dockyard worker prepares a mold to make a propeller.
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