The Hindu Business Line : Rajabagan Dockyard of CIWTC may survive Govt's cull

THE Union Government's decision to pull out of the ailing Central Inland Water Transport Corporation (CIWTC) may ultimately entail closure of the company and, therefore, spell disaster for a large number of the 1,100 employees.

There appears to be a ray of hope for the 400-odd employees of the Rajabagan Dockyard (RBD), the ship-building arm of CIWTC. If the current move is any indication, RBD might be brought under one of the shipyards under the Ministry of Defence. There are three such shipyards, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) in Kolkata, Mazagon Dock in Mumbai and Goa Shipyard in Goa.

GRSE should be the obvious choice. But no firm decision in this regard has yet been taken. The talks are still at a preliminary level, it is learnt.

For GRSE, acquiring RBD makes sense. First, of course, is the proximity. RBD and the GRSE's yards are virtually cheek by jowl. Besides, certain basic ship-building facilities are already in place at RBD. It has several dry docks, slipways, ship-building berths, machine shops and cranes, all needed for the construction of vessels. Capping it all, it has a waterfront of 600 metres and a total area of 33 acres.

More important, RBD is now poised to achieve breakeven. Over the past four years, the loss has been brought down substantially from more than Rs 8 crore to around Rs 2 crore. Several foreign firms from Norway and the Netherlands, along with a few others locally, showed interest in having small cargo ships, up to 5,000 dwt capacity, built in the dockyard. In fact, foreign teams visited the dockyard and indicated its willingness to place orders.

However, the management, it is learnt, could not pursue the queries as the Shipping Ministry declined to provide the necessary support to CIWTC.

At a time when ship-building is booming, the Shipping Ministry's decision to pull out CIWTC complete with a ship-building yard is crazy, according to many in shipping circles.

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