Cochin Shipyard weighs JV options with global ship building majors for expansion

Cochin Shipyard Ltd is reaching out to global shipbuilding majors to explore technical collaborations in shipbuilding and ship repair by setting up joint ventures. “Talks are already on with shipbuilding majors for brown field expansion. The new ₹1800 crore dry-dock at CSL is ready to construct large merchant vessels. We are looking at technical providers in Korea for high quality block fabrication facilities along with requisite systems and processes”, Madhu S.Nair, the company’s Chairman and Managing Director told businessline

CSL was part of the delegation to Korea, Japan along with some other groups seeking opportunities to build more ships to cater to both Indian and overseas markets on a globally competitive term. The market is currently dominated by Koreans, Chinese and the Japanese, he said in an interaction. The yard is also looking at a suitable location in Kochi to set up a large fabrication facility so as to speed up the turnaround time of building ships from the new dry-dock. The existing fabrication facility will not be able to meet the requirements for a faster turnaround of large merchant ships, he added...To grow into the next league for which we would actually need good quality partnerships”, the CMD said.

India’s growth story, according to him, augurs well for the requirement of more number of ships for cargo transportation to meet the supply-demand situation. However, the majority of the country’s cargo is being handled by foreign ships now. Taking the ship billing point of view, Nair said India has roughly paid $85 billion as freight charges last year out of which $75 billion was collected by foreign shipping firms at a time when India is a $3.5 trillion economy. There is always a cost for logistics when the country becomes a $30 trillion economy which demands more number of ships.

In that scenario, Nair said an Indian controlled or Indian owned or even a multinational shipping company sitting in India is always the best. The yard is also contemplating further expanding its new ₹970 crore Integrated Ship Repair Facility (ISRF) at Willingdon Island, which presently has a 6000T ship-lift and 6 workstations. The thinking is to add up to 10 additional workstations through partnership with a reputed overseas firm and operating the facility by bringing in global best practices. Though not immediate, this would entail an investment close to ₹1500 crore, he said.

CSL is also investing around Rs35 crore to develop an Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV) that can be deployed for both defense and civilian applications. It has secured partial funding from the government for this R&D project, he added.