Cochin Shipyard eyes inland waterway foray, lines up big money

Employees watch as the newly built Indian Naval warship INS Visakhapatnam sails into the Arabian Sea during its launch at Mazagon Docks, a naval vessel ship building yard, in Mumbai April 20, 2015. REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade - RTX19I94

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Basking in the IPO success, Cochin Shipyard is now drawing up huge expansion plans, including one of foray into inland water transport. Its IPO in August turned out to be a blockbuster that received more than Rs 1.11 lakh crore worth of bids as against the offer size of Rs 1,442 crore.

"We have currently undertaken three major expansion projects -- a dry dock in Cochin with an investment of Rs 1,800 crore; second, an international ship repair facility on the port trust land at a cost of Rs 970 crore and third, we are making a foray into inland waterways transport," Cochin Shipyard (CSL) CMD Madhu S Nair told PTI.

The PSU, Nair said, is on the same page with the government when it comes to thrust on waterways, given the huge opportunities in the sector.

CSL intends to build an international ship repair facility within the yard, for which it has already leased a 42-acre plot from the Cochin Port Trust.

The leading ship-building and maintenance player is also looking at ship repair opportunities in other port cities of India. "We are talking to various ports in some major cities in the country for ship repair facilities," he said.

The chairman added that Cochin Shipyard is in advanced stage of incorporating a joint venture company for taking over assets of the Hooghly dock in Kolkata.

CSL has plans to build a Rs 100-crore facility on the Hooghly in Kolkata for construction of vessels for inland water transport.

Last month, Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had said CSL is looking at ship- building and repair facilities in Andaman and Nicobar, Gujarat, Kolkata and Mumbai. The state-owned firm saw its initial public offering (IPO) in August getting oversubscribed as many as 75 times.

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 platform 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. India's first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, is in its final stage of construction at CSL.

CSL, under the shipping ministry, was listed on the BSE and the NSE on August 11 this year. The PSU had clocked revenue of Rs 2,059 crore in 2016-17, with ship-building operations accounting for 74 percent and repair the rest. Its profit after tax stood at Rs 312 crore.