Feature 1 | PATROL AND RESCUE BOATS Indian yards begin to see the light


India is increasingly looking to US patrol boat designers and builders for crucial advice on how to produce successful, efficient vessels of this type, aſter years of scant investment in construction technology and subsequent disappointing results.


problems frequently encountered in India’s attempts to carve a niche for itself in the small vessel production sector. While the country has made slow but steady progress in warship construction, it has seemed unable, to date, to transfer these skills to the effective design and production of patrol boats, a market segment that is thriving at present – enabling neighbour Bangladesh to steal the lead and grow its own national boatbuilding industry at an enviable pace. That Comment piece concluded by


I


pondering how India has come to find itself at this low ebb and queried how the country could potentially reverse its misfortunes and increase its cache of patrol boat orders. Speaking to Ship & Boat International, Bob Stevens, naval architect and CEO at Florida-based Tampa Yacht Manufacturing, sheds some light on India’s stumbling blocks, drawing on his yard’s experience of working with public shipyards in India over the past few years. “Until recently, South America has


been the only place I’ve known of with a big history of small boat navies,” Stevens says, “but small boat navies are now becoming popular, internationally – partly as a response to the rise in the global terrorist threat, partly due to the speed, navionics and domain awareness technologies for patrol boats increasing in scope. Patrol boats can deliver more horsepower per pound than ever before.” Needless to say, India is missing


a trick in this respect, but Stevens reluctantly admits that he isn’t


too


surprised by this current state of affairs. “For me, lack of state-of-the-


art construction technology is one of


the biggest 26 reasons why India “I know of one Indian contract with


two public sector shipyards for the delivery of 12tonne, 35knot boats for the local maritime police authorities,”


Tampa Yacht Manufacturing’s Tempest 44 FCI patrol boat: the builder has been assisting Indian public sector yards with state-of-the-art technology for small, high-speed craft construction.


is foundering,” he explains. “The country doesn’t have a history of small boat navies, nor any real history of technological investment in this area.” As a result, Indian patrol boat orders have often resulted in less than optimally developed craft.


“It is one thing to have the RFP – but the key question for Indian yards is, is anybody examining the request?”


Stevens recalls. “With over 110 units delivered,


the operator was forced


to conclude that these vessels were considerably less than what had been anticipated. “Another part of


the problem is


that the groups writing these request for proposals [RFPs] for new vessels– such as India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, or Border Security Force – don’t understand the latest advances in small craft naval technology. I have sat in meetings with Indian operators, shipyards and their naval architects, and told them that


the technology


requirements submitted in their RFPs are often way beyond bounds for what patrol vessels actually require.”


Unfit for purpose As an example of this, Stevens recalls an order placed by the Indian government for 15 high speed interceptor craft, for use in coastal defence operations. “The RFP had specified that each of


Ship & Boat International March/April 2012


n the Editorial Comment to Ship & Boat


February, we at the


International January/ looked


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