One of Myanmar Maria's boats in operation in the Ayeyarwady Delta.

YANGON-BASED fibreglass boat maker, Myanmar Maria Company, plans to increase its production by more than 300 percent to meet post-Nargis demand, said U Bo Bo Aung, the company’s managing director, last week.

Before Cyclone Nargis smashed into Myanmar in May 2 and 3, U Bo Bo Aung said the company produced a maximum of 15 boats a month: He said the company would now be making 50 a month.

Buyers of the boats so far have included a number of non-government organisa-tions and the Myanmar Red Cross Society.

“We have already delivered nine fibreglass boats to the Myanmar Red Cross Society and a further 14 boats to non-government organisations (NGO) that are doing relief work in the delta.

“With that in mind we plan to increase our production for the domestic market,” he said.

The company produces three different types of vessels, all made with fibreglass: Speed boats, light boats and traditional boats. He added that the raw materials are imported from Japan, while the engines are sourced from China, Japan or Germany, depending on what the customer requests.

U Bo Bo Aung said the fibreglass boats have in-built buoyancy tanks at the front and rear of the vessels, which keeps them afloat even with water inside the boat.

However, he said those living in delta so far prefer wooden boats because fibreglass boats are too light and consider them difficult to keep under control. Fibreglass boats are also harder and more expensive to fix.

U Moe Zaw Win, the company’s general manager, said all of the boats recently purchased for relief work in the delta are traditional long-tail design vessels that are 18 feet long and 4 feet wide. Propulsion comes from a 13-horsepower Chinese petrol (gasoline) engine; the company calls the boats the SW-18 model.

“The SW-18 traditional boats can run at an average speed of about 15 miles an hour and can carry from 10 to 15 passengers,” he said.

Each boat costs about K1.6 million, although he cautioned that this was dependent on the choice of engine and choice of fittings within the vessel.

And while there is clearly plenty of money to be made selling the boats, U Moe Zaw Win added that the company has also donated eight boats, worth about K10 million, to relief organisations.

U Moe Zaw Win, who is also the company’s chief engineer, said the company would now focus on building larger vessels.

“Our latest market surveys from the delta show that bigger boats – still using the traditional design – are preferred by the residents in the area.

“As a result of that we will now be building boats measuring from 25 to 45 feet in length,” he added.

Before Nargis, the company’s best-selling boats domestically were small, traditional boats without engines. They sold for about K600,000 and were commonly used as lifeboats on large passenger boats, he said.

Myanmar Maria Company has also built larger SW-26 (26-foot) and SW-24 (24-foot) cruise boats with 90-horsepower engines for export to Japan on a cutting, manufacturing and packaging (CMP) basis since 2006, he said.

U Bo Bo Aung said the company receives technical support from Japan’s Small Craft Association, the Nagasaki Institute of Applied Science and Global Science and Engineering Frontiers.

“The company has standard quality certificates from the department of naval Architectures (engineering) at the Nagasaki Institute of Applied Science,” he said.