New Delhi, March 17 Cochin Shipyard Ltd and Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) on Thursday signed an agreement to build the country’s first indigenous dredger. The vessel with a 12,000 cubic metre capacity, will cost around ₹920 crore and is expected to be completed within 34 months.
The Dutch dredging technology major, IHC Holland, will be technology partners in the project. IHC is the global market leader.
This is the first attempt that India will be making towards manufacture of a trailing suction hooper dredgers.
Once completed, the dredger will be inducted in DCI’s existing fleet. DCI presently owns and operates around 17 vessels, including 10 Trailing Suction Hopper Dredgers (TSHD). Hitherto all TSHD’s were being brought in from foreign countries.
Calling it a “landmark moment”, Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Shipping, Ports and Waterways, said there was a need to bring in new dredgers especially for timely completion of dredging work across ports.
“Built under the Atmanirbhar Bharat concept, this is one of the largest initiatives that has been taken up. The country would soon be equipped with dredgers for operation of ports to bring down logistic cost of the cargo,” he said during the Ship Building Agreement Signing ceremony.
Ship building agreement
This Ship Building Agreement would also benefit from the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy of 2016, for shipbuilding contracts secured between April 2016 and March 2026. Financial assistance is granted under this policy to Indian shipyards equal to 17 per cent of the lower of “contract price” or the “fair price” or “actual payments received”, whichever is least. A provision of ₹4,000 crore has been made for this 10-year period.
The annual volume of maintenance dredging at major Indian ports stands at 80 million cubic metres while it was 20 million cubic metres for capital maintenance (dredging towards building of new ports).
“The first dredger is likely to be ready and put in operation over the next 34 months. Subsequent ones, are expected to come up faster,” Sonowal said.
An expert committee that was constituted to finalise the procurement plan of DCI concluded that DCI shall construct 3 (three) Trailer Suction Hopper Dredgers (TSHDs) through CSL. The first vessel of 12000 cubic metres (m3) shall be ordered in 2022, the second in 2023 and the third vessel, and a third in 2025.