Cochin Shipyard JV to set up naval ship manufacturing facility

KOLKATA: Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) that had recently incorporated a JV named Hooghly Cochin Shipyard Limited (HSSL) — with Hooghly Dock & Port Engineering Limited will set up a naval ship manufacturing facility in Howrah with an investment to the tune of Rs 130 crore. A senior official of Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) said that a formal announcement of the investment will be made at the Bengal Global Business Summit in January 2018 and then the company will proceed further in this regard.

KoPT Deputy Chairman S Balaji Arun Kumar along with some senior officials held a meeting with state Finance & Industry minister Amit Mitra and state Urban Development minister Firhad Hakim at Mitra's chamber at the state assembly on Monday.

The KoPT has five idle docks that are conducive for ship repairing and its new chairman Vinit Kumar is keen to revive them.

It is learnt that Cochin Shipyard Ltd and Hooghly Dock & Port Engineers Limited will have 76 percent and 24 percent stake in the Company respectively. It is learnt that the JV, which has been formed, has the KoPT deputy chairman Arunkumar as the chairman & managing director.

"Besides revenue for the port, the development will help boost employment and maritime activity in the state," a senior official of the state Finance department said.

The company has chalked out plans to revive the two non-functional shipyards of Hooghly Dock and Port Engineers at Salkia and Nazirgunge, among the oldest in the country. CSL also has plans to build a Rs 100-crore facility on the Hooghly river in Kolkata for construction of vessels for inland water transport. CSL is the only shipyard in India that can build up to 1,10,000 DWT (deadweight tonnes) with a track record of making tankers, bulk carriers, port crafts and passenger vessels, among others. Currently, it is into constructing supply vessels for exports and aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy. It is also the only shipyard in the country which can fix vessels of up to 1,25,000 DWT, besides being the only yard that can repair an air defence ship. Cochin Shipyard Ltd, has also shown interest in turning around dry docks of KoPT. The union Shipping Ministry had approved the proposal for setting up the JV in March this year.