MJL Bangladesh announced last month that it obtained a license from the government to offer marine lubricants duty-free to ocean-going vessels. The Dhaka-based company is just the second in Bangladesh to receive such a privilege and hopes to use it to attract more ship traffic.
There are ships that stop at ports in other countries instead of coming here partly because of the costs here, MJL Executive Director and Chief Engineer Mukul Hossain said during a phone interview. So we expect that this will lead to an increase in the number of vessels coming here.
Photo: David Mckee / Dreamstime
With a license that permits it to avoid duties on sales of marine lubes, MJL Bangladesh hopes to attract more customers like these to the port of Chittagong.
MJL, which is based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, distributes and manufactures Mobil-branded lubricants on behalf of ExxonMobil and also makes and markets its own lubes. The license, which it received in January, authorizes the company to supply marine lubes from a bonded warehouse that it operates at the port of Chittagong without collecting the duty that the government otherwise assesses. The exemption applies only to ocean-going vessels, not domestic watercraft.
Hossain said the government previously granted such a license to Eastern Lubricants, a subsidiary of state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corp. MJL is a joint venture of Jamuna Oil Co., a sister company of Eastern Lubricants, and privately owned EC Securities.
Eastern offers marine lubes supplied by French oil giant Total. MJL will offer Mobil marine lubes.