Bangladesh Maritime History

Ghulam M. Suhrawardi

Dec 2015 · FriesenPress

About this ebook

A wide network of rivers make Bangladesh one of the largest maritime nations in the world. Various types of inland marine crafts have been carrying cargo and passengers for thousands of years. Being self sufficient in resources, ancient Bangladeshis did not have to venture outside their nation and therefore, ocean borne navigation was never an important aspect of their life. Inland marine was an important feature in the lifestyle of Bangladeshis and will remain so for a long time.

About the author

 Ghulam M. Suhrawardi was born in Dhaka Bangladesh in 1950. He attended a primary school in a village in Matlab, Chandpur and then went off to Murree Hills in Pakistan to attend a boarding school where he completed his tenth grade. After 2 years at the Marine Academy in Chittagong, Bangladesh (1967-69), he joined a merchant vessel as a sea-cadet and later became a mate. During the war of independence of Bangladesh, Ghulam jumped ship (defected from Pakistani vessel) in Baltimore on May 1, 1971 and applied for political asylum in the United States. While the asylum was ongoing, he attended the State University of New York Maritime College, New York where he obtained B.S. and M.S. in Marine Transportation Management (1971-75).  

Ghulam’s professional life includes various positions in the U.S. waterfronts as a Marine Surveyor, Terminal Manager, Port Captain and Operations Manager. Finally in 1980, he started a business in Marine Surveying with his wife by his side. He and his wife still work in the same office as they have done for all these years and developed it into a vibrant business encompassing many ports in the United States and many foreign nations. He permanently resides in New Jersey, USA and travels to Bangladesh often. Besides business operations in Bangladesh, Ghulam founded an English medium boarding school in Matlab, Chandpur – The Carter Academy (www.tca.edu.bd) named after the Nobel laureate President Jimmy Carter. He plans to extend this campus to add a university and a medical college.