Feature 4 | INDIAN REPORT
The bulk carrier, Clipper Tenacious, alongside at Cochin Shipyard Limited. The Internat ional Mar i t ime
Organization’s (IMO’s) stipulation that all vessels over 20 years of age will have to be retired by 2010, and all single-hulled tankers would have to be replaced with double-hulled ones, has led to new demand estimated at 62% of the current size of the international fleet. “With huge order inflows until 2007-2008,
Indian yards are in a reasonably comfortable position for the next three to four years, and are focusing on capacity expansions, despite the economic downturn,” says a Mumbai- based shipping industry analyst. A recent study suggests that 17% of
the global orders for building new OSVs are with Chinese companies. But their deliveries are expected to be delayed, a happenstance that will put further pressure on offshore companies. A shortage of OSVs and increasing demand should put Indian shipbuilders on a reasonably good wicket. The idea of building offshore vessels
appealed so much to the state-run Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) that it approached the Shipping Ministry for permission to create a dedicated small ship division (SSD). Te government cleared the idea in September 2008.
82 The SSD project will be set up at an
outlay of Rs980 million, and is expected to be partially launched by mid-2009. Te required equipment has already arrived; and, upon completion, the SSD would help CSL undertake the concurrent building of small commercial ships, alongside the aircraſt carrier for the Indian Navy, that is presently under construction. CSL chairman Commodore (Retd.)
M Jitendran felt that small ships held out big promise, particularly since the joint venture between government-run explorer-producer Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) would need several replacements in the near future for their offshore supply vessels. “We propose to construct sophisticated
offshore supply vessels, anchor handling tugs and other small craft of less than 2000dwt,” the CSL chief said. “The small shipbuilding division will be fully operational by 2015, and should generate additional revenue of Rs5-7 billion annually. Tis will be possible because, depending on the demand, the division would have the capability of building up to eight vessels annually, aſter starting with three or four.”
Te yard has issued contracts for installing
fabrication shops for heavy blocks. Setting up of other ancillaries such as electronics, hydraulics and accommodation out-fittings, etc., will be taken up soon. CSL has been building platform supply
vessels (PSVs) for a number of European and USA-based clients. All of them are of the popular UT-755-L design; and have been built to satisfy the demands of transport of deck cargo, pipes, liquid cargo, cement/ barite, etc, and unloading to rigs, production platforms and pipe-laying barges. CSL is in the process of constructing 20
other offshore vessels collectively valued at over Rs30 billion, for its overseas clients. CSL happens to be one of nine shipyards
run by the government out of 23 shipyards in India. Four groups – ABG, Bharati, Larsen & Toubro and Pipavav – between them own 14 yards that offer a variety of vessels, even as Pipavav Shipyard has concentrated on building the 74,500dwt Panamax bulk carrier.
Maybe so, but… Yet, despite orders for mainly bulk carriers and offshore vessels, all is not well with the Indian shipbuilding industry. According to a
The Naval Architect February 2009
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