The Hindu Business Line : Cochin Shipyard to open small ship repair division

Given the encouraging response from offshore operators, the public sector Cochin Shipyard Ltd has proposed to open a small ship repair division within the yard.

The proposed division has received in-principle approval from the Planning Commission, Commodore M. Jitendran, Chairman and Managing Director, Cochin Shipyard, said while speaking at a function on Friday to mark the delivery of Clipper Trust, the third of the six 30,000 DWT bulk carriers being built for Clipper Denmark.

The yard's foray into the lucrative offshore vessel market is progressing well on course. It is constructing 14 Platform Supply Vessels for European clients. The fact that the yard has lived up to the quality conscious West European owners has added to the reputation of CSL. This has resulted in much more interest from reputed offshore operators, he said.

Apart from the vessel delivery, the function also witnessed two launchings and one keel laying at the yard. The keel was also laid for Ship, the fifth of the series of six bulk carriers to the Clipper Group. A Platform Supply Vessel was also launched at the function for Deep Sea Supply, Norway. This was the third of a series of 12 Platform Supply Vessels being built in the yard for this owner. The first ship of this series would be delivered next week.

Shipbuilding feat

Mr Jitendran pointed out that the yard's shipbuilding achievement this year is likely to surpass its earlier record of 1,10,206 DWT achieved in 2005-06 and reach up to 1,49,000 DWT. The yards repair turnover till December 2006 was Rs 160 crore compared to the target of Rs150 crore.

During the year, the yard has already delivered 3 fire-fighting tugs for ATCO, Saudi Arabia and the first two of the six bulk carriers for the Clipper Group. The series of 9 fire fighting tugs was completed on schedule to the full satisfaction of the owners. The feedback received regarding the first two bulk carriers delivered for Clipper has been encouraging. The vessels, delivered today, are ready for charter and are proceeding to Australia to load cargo, he said. The ship repair activity of the company is also at the peak with a record of four major upgradation undertaken this year.