Comments
The first indigenously built Floating Dock (FDN-2) to repair Indian Navy ships was launched at Larsen & Toubro Shipyard at Kattupalli, north of Chennai. It will be handed over to the Navy after three to four months of trial.
“It is truly a Made in India product,” said Vice-Admiral DM Deshpande, Controller Warship Production and Acquisition of Indian Navy, at the launch function at L&T Kattupalli Shipyard.
FDN-2 will move to Andaman & Nicobar Islands to be used for assets not only of the Navy but also of other Services.
It can take up to 8,000-tonne ships with draught up to 7 metres, including submarine, he said.
The ₹468-crore floating dock was lowered in to the waters of Bay of Bengal by Anjali Deshpande, wife of the Vice-Admiral in the presence of, JD Patil, Senior Executive Vice-President & Whole time Director (Designate) - Defence, L&T and B Kannan, MD & CEO L&T Shipbuilding. FDN-2 was the first Naval shipbuilding project for L&T. Simultaneous docking of multiple ships, and off-center docking options are also feasible, said Patil.
Floating docks can be installed either along a jetty, moored in calm waters and also moved to high seas enabling round-the-year operation.
It is provided with a hauling-in system to handle a ship’s docking and undocking operations. It can also support ships berthed along its side.
Patil said L&T has also been mandated by Indian Coast Guard to design and build seven Offshore Patrol Vessels with two of these to be launched in the second half of this financial year.
The company is also undertaking repairs and refits of Naval and Coast Guard ships regularly and delivered six refit ships, including the largest Logistics Tanker ship INS Jyoti.
Six ships can be docked for repairs or refit at the shipyard at any point of time, he added.
Break even L&T has invested around ₹5,000 crore in the Kattupalli shipyard, which is now focusing only on Defence orders. The facility had an accumulated loss of ₹2,500 crore. “We hope to break even by 2019-20,” he said.
Kannan said the Kattupalli facility is also building 12 high-speed patrol vessels for Vietnam Border Guard. The company won the order last year.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.