Maritime servicing. Cochin Shipyard builds on success

He expressed confidence that the port city in Kerala would soon become South Asia’s largest ship-repair centre. With the addition of a new dry dock and international ship repair facility at a cost of around ₹2,800 crore, the public sector unit is raring to achieve new highs.

Madhu S Nair, Chairman and Managing Director, CSL, says opportunities abound in the shipbuilding market, given the growing demand globally. “We are inspired by the PM’s speech during his recent visit, which is a major impetus for CSL and India’s shipbuilding infrastructure. We are not expecting any immediate outcome after the PM’s statement. But we believe it would help us pick up further orders,” he says.

The shipbuilding sector is set for greater growth primarily due to the challenges faced by ageing fleets the world over in meeting the new regulatory requirements, thus accelerating the demand for fleet replacements.

India commands less than one per cent of the $140-billion global shipbuilding market. “However, going by the order intake over the past 2-3 years at CSL and other yards in the country, we could be looking at much better numbers in the coming years,” Nair says.

In the area of ship repair, an estimated $20-billion global market, India’s share is about one per cent. CSL’s share in the Indian ship repair market is about 50 per cent. The yard’s new international ship repair facility adds about 25 per cent capacity, he says.

The recent expansion at CSL is in line with the central government’s Maritime India Vision 2030 to position India among the world’s top 10 shipbuilding and ship repair destinations by 2030. It also aligns with the recently announced ‘Amrit Kaal Maritime Vision 2047’ initiatives, which include expansion of port infrastructure and maritime trade, and promotion of sustainable practices, he says.

CSL’s units in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Port Blair have helped spread ship repair services on both the east and west coast of India. The units offer maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) services to domestic, foreign and defence vessels, generating more than ₹200 crore turnover until the third quarter of financial year 2023-24. Regarding the shipyard’s work on new projects for the Indian Navy, Nair says eight anti-submarine warfare shallow watercrafts (ASW SWC), worth about ₹6,300 crore, are under various stages of construction.

Another six next-generation missile vessels (NGMV), worth about ₹9,800 crore, are in the design and equipment ordering stage.

Rating agency Crisil reported that CSL had achieved sales of ₹1,488 crore during the first half of FY24 and is set to reach ₹3,200-3,400 crore for the full year. The scale of operations is expected to sustain over the medium term on the back of capacity expansion, a healthy order book, and timely execution.