Cochin Shipyard Ltd is reaching out to global shipbuilding majors for joint ventures in shipbuilding and ship repair. 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.
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.
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, an Indian-controlled or -owned or even a multinational shipping company sitting in India is always the best. The yard is also contemplating further expanding its new Rs 970-crore Integrated Ship Repair Facility (ISRF) at Willingdon Island, which presently has a 6,000-tonne ship-lift and six 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 Rs 1,500 crore, he said. CSL is also investing around Rs 35 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.
