The Hindu Business Line : Pipavav Shipyard plans to hire Japanese professionals

Chennai, July 8 Pipavav Shipyard plans to hire around 50 Japanese professionals for its upcoming shipyard in Gujarat. This is at the exploratory stage and is at the ‘cost checking stage to do a cost-benefit analysis,’ according to its CEO, Mr Ray Stewart.

It roped in Mr Mikito Shirai, a national of Japan, as Head of Planning and Production Engineering. He was a senior engineer at IHI, one of Japan’s largest shipbuilding companies. There are four senior Japanese managers as well.

The additional 50 Japanese professionals will be mainly working on the shop floor, Mr Stewart said at a maritime seminar organised by the All-India Manufacturing Organisation here on Monday. “We have not decided to do [to hire the Japanese professionals] it yet. If we did, it will purely be a temporary measure to help during the initial phase of production and to assist with training of our permanent staff,” he told Business Line.

Why Japanese and not Korean or Chinese (who are today the largest ship builders in the world)? Mr Stewart said Koreans and Chinese learnt from the Japanese – “so, why not go to the original teachers”. With senior managers from Japan, it is also logical to follow up with Japanese rather than other nationalities, he said.

Name change

Mr Stewart said the name of Pipavav Shipyard may be changed to highlight the bigger strategy of the company than just building ships. The name change is still an “embryonic idea and we have not progressed yet.”

The business strategy is to have four legs to stand on – commercial shipbuilding; ship repair; offshore fabrication; and naval ship new building and repair. The word “shipyard” in the company’s name is, therefore, not entirely appropriate as it does not encompass the varied activities that the company will be involved in, he said.

Shipyard soon

Located on the west coast of India, adjacent to major sea lanes between the Persian Gulf and Asia, the construction of the Rs 2,371-crore Pipavav Shipyard is likely to be completed by October. On completion, the shipyard is expected to have the capacity to build and repair vessels of up to 4 lakh DWT (dead weight tonne).

It will be capable of ship construction and repairs for a range of vessels of different sizes and types, as well as the fabrication and construction of products such as offshore platforms, rigs, jackets and vessels (but excluding sub-sea pipelines) for oil and gas companies.

According to the company’s draft red herring prospectus filed with SEBI, Pipavav Shipyard has agreements with three international ship owners for the construction of 26 Panamax bulk carriers of 74,500 DWT each for delivery from 2009 to May 2012, including options for four ships which have been exercised.

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