Internationally, Bangladesh ranks 32nd in the statistics for the biggest consumers of natural gas. However, the nation is witnessing a severe scarcity of natural gas, which has frozen the connections of the commodity for almost 10 years. In the dawn of 2021, the demand for LPG in Bangladesh stood at approximately one million tonnes. Approximately 99% of the supplies are traded into the country, hence making the complete industry entirely dependent on foreign exporters.
In such a setting, Bashundhara LP Gas Limited plays an essential role in solidifying the LPG market in Bangladesh. The organization leverages 30 years of experience from its parental firm, the Bashundhara Group. With short-tenure and long-tenure strategies to further solidify the brand in Bangladesh and around the world, the firm is striving to make profitable moves.
The Unique Selling Proposition of Bashundhara LP Gas Limited
Bashundhara LP Gas Limited, otherwise familiarized as Bashundhara LPG, is the most eminent brand in the LPG sector owing to its presence in the industry for over 20 years. This is the foremost private sector investment in Bangladesh made by the Bashundhara Group. Mr Ahmad Akbar Sobhan, the chairman of the Bashundhara Group, foresaw the importance of the energy sector and established Bashundhara LPG almost two decades ago.
The firm told The Global Economics Magazine that their USP (unique selling proposition) encompassed a legacy of delivering to its customers for more than 20 years. At present, Bashundhara LPG has spread its wings in every niche of Bangladesh. The firm boasts millions of satisfied consumers who have been served with the conveniences of LPG for the past several years.
Over the past 5-6 years, Bangladesh’s LPG market has emerged as an increasingly augmented industry, with investments pouring in from almost every market player. Numerous players are inflowing the market and thus, the competition is severe. In this highly competitive market, Bashundhara LPG relishes almost a quarter of the market share.
This major market share is owing to the enlarged investment of the company in the energy sector over several years. Bashundhara LPG boasts unmatched logistics métier, right from transporting the material inputs essential for production to the distribution of LPG. The firm has also profoundly invested in productions and maintenance plants, cylinders, and other factions of the company, which has reinforced Bashundhara LPG’s baseline. Hence, the firm has emerged as one of the most robust players in Bangladesh’s LPG sector.
Owing to these continuous efforts by Bashundhara LPG, the firm has witnessed extensive growth leading them to annual revenue of USD 200 million.
Plans of Growth
Bashundhara LPG has been a pioneer in the Bangladeshi LPG sector for the past two decades and has resonated its business ideologies with reliability and trust. The firm encompasses highly eminent individuals in every department, ranging from operations, marketing, sales, and distribution, to name a few.
The Bangladeshi LPG sector is valued at approximately USD 3.2 billion. The organization is by far steered by the Vice Chairman of the Bashundhara Group, Mr. Shafiat Sobhan Sanvir, who is viewed as an eminent visionary in the firm. Mr. Shafiat Sobhan Sanvir has massively invested in logistics by purchasing Bashundhara LPG’s Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGCs). Around the globe, there are approximately more than 250 such VLGCs and the Bashundhara Group possesses 2 of these carriers. This portrays the logical investment in the upstream faction of the firm, which in turn warrants their supply source.
Bashundhara LPG has also majorly invested in their manufacturing and maintenance plants. The former has been viewed as one of the largest units internationally. The Bashundhara LPG plant at Dhaka can replenish more than 3,500 cylinders per hour, which is one of the biggest production numbers in the Southeast Asian LPG market.
The conglomerate manufactures their cylinders and have invested a massive amount in its cylinder manufacturing units. The capacity peaks up to 2.4 million cylinders every year. Bashundhara LPG possesses active growth plans that are linked to its geographical and employee extension. As a highly motivated organization, the company strives to look ahead towards a bright future. The decision-makers of the conglomerate initiated humongous investments in the energy sector for decades and are yet again planning to repeat the same for the coming few decades.
At present, Bashundhara LPG retails close to 300,000 tonnes of LPG per year. The conglomerate is already brainstorming to emerge as the supplier of 1,000,000 tonnes shortly. The firm is also ruminating over cross-border products, with an aim on the northern and southern Indian markets. The firm is also pondering on leveraging their VLGC to supply services to Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives apart from numerous parts of the Southeast Asian market. These endeavors also entail enormous investments in VLGCs.
Diving Deep into the Manufacturing Units of Bashundhara LPG
Two of the world’s biggest VLGCs are encompassed within the walls of the Bashundhara Group. The first is dubbed Bashundhara LPG Challenger and the other Bashundhara LP Gas Warrior. Both the VLGCs have a capacity of over a whopping 40,000 tonnes. The firm also possesses three sister vessels – LPG Maria, LPG Chatoki, and LPG Sofia, whose capacities exceed 3,000 tonnes each. The firm boasts 6 other inland carriers that navigate products from Mongla to Dhaka in Bangladesh. These 6 carriers have a capacity of around 500-800 tonnes each.
Bashundhara LPG houses manufacturing units in several distinguished areas of Bangladesh, namely – Mongla, Dhaka, Chittagong, and Bogura. The firm also encompasses 18 sales centres in strategic locations of the country. Comprehensively, the manufacturing plants replenish approximately 120,000 cylinders every day in a single work shift. This capacity is further multiplied if one counts the multiple numbers of shifts the firm operates in.
Additionally, Bashundhara LPG possesses two humongous cylinder manufacturing plants at Mongla and Dhaka. The firm also boasts 50 LPG road tankers and 200-cylinder carrying trucks that traverse across Bangladesh. These trucks and tankers reach consumers in every niche of the nation, which houses around 40,000 retailers and 500 distributors.
The firm’s statistics show that they have injected 7.5 million cylinders into the market so far to approximately 3 million Bangladeshi consumers. These statistics arrive from monthly generated reports by the firm.
CSR Activities
Bashundhara LPG is a humanitarian organization that seeks to contribute to society via its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. During the Covid19 pandemic, the firm ensured to safeguard the jobs of all its employees. Apart from employee job safeguarding, outside the organization, Bashundhara LPG has aided in serving food to approximately 3,000 people in times of crisis via a relief fund.
Owing to the risks associated with LPG, the organization believes in training all consumers (around 40,000 housewives) to use LPG safely. The firm has initiated a ‘Service Campaign’ plan through which trained individuals educate LPG users regarding the proper usage of LPG cylinders to ultimately facilitate safety awareness.
To aid the families of all its distributors, the organization has fiscally helped their children in the form of merit scholarships. It has also strived to look after minors who lost their parents and guardians owing to the aftermath of the Covid19 pandemic.
With widespread CSR initiatives like these, the Bashundhara LPG organization has sealed its brand to resonate as a synonym to confidence, trust, and reliability.
