The Hindu Business Line : Bharati Shipyard to start ship repair service at its floating dock

India’s second largest private sector shipbuilder, Bharati Shipyard Ltd, will now start its ship repair facility at the recently-acquired floating dock of Swan Hunter Shipyard.

Bharati, which has orders worth Rs 5,097 crore, will undertake the lucrative repair business, once the dock is commissioned in the next two months at its Dabhol Greenfield yard in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.

The company which had acquired 14.89 per cent stake in Great Offshore Ltd, is making an open offer for another 20 per cent stake.

“This is just a good addition to our existing facilities. But at the moment, this will be not be used for new constructions. We will begin with our repairs business and then use for launching new ships,” said Mr P.C. Kapoor, Managing Director, Bharati Shipyard Ltd. According to an analyst, margins on ship repair business are much better compared to ship building.

“This could be an additional revenue generator during the slowdown, when new orders are virtually nil,” the analyst added.

The Newcastle-based Swan Hunter shipyard was acquired for Rs 250 crore-300 crore (including the commissioning) in 2007.

It has capability to build aircraft carriers, navy vessels, rigs and carried out intensive repair work. The machinery was upgraded recently.

The equipment of the dock are coming in various consignments to Dabhol since past 12 months with last one arriving earlier this month. “The dock is full of machinery. It came on top of a submersible ship. That ship went under the water and this floated on,” said Mr Kapoor.

The floating dock is about 150 m x 40 m, having 16,000-tonne lifting capacity.

The other machineries and equipment acquired by the company also include 150-tonne floating crane, fully-automated panel lines, quayside travelling gantry cranes up to 180 tonnes capacity and 30 overhead travelling cranes up to 60 tonnes capacity.

More Stories on : Shipping/Ports | Mergers & Acquisitions

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