MARG acquires Cutter Suction Dredger

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  MARG Constructions Ltd, one of India's fastest growing infrastructure and real estate development company, today announced the arrival of its acquisition - A Cutter Suction Dredger named 'MARG CAUVERY'. The event marks entry of MARG into the fast growing dredging industry, which is currently dominated by multinational players. MARG CAUVERY with a dredging capacity of 2000 cubm/hour arrived in India on November 9, 2007 and would be immediately deployed in the dredging works of Karaikal Port which is currently being developed by MARG.

 

Announcing the arrival of the Dredger - MARG Cauvery', Mr. GRK Reddy, Managing Director, MARG Constructions Ltd. said, "At MARG, we believe in identifying opportunities in the infrastructure sector to create maximum value for our stakeholders. MARG Cauvery marks a significant event in MARG's evolution as an all-round infrastructure developer and signifies its entry into the promising dredging industry, which is expected to rapidly grow due to expansion plans of existing ports and development of new ports in the country".

 

MARG Cauvery, a non-propelled cutter suction dredger, would be able to dredge at depths in the range of 5 to 25 m. The vessel designed to 1191 GRT/ 358 NRT, is of 73.20 m length and 15 m in breadth with keel to mast height of 12 m.

 

At present, the country has 12 major ports and 45 non-major and private ports situated along its long coastline of 7517 km. The total volume of traffic handled by all the Indian Ports during 2004-05 was about 521.6 million tons of which about 75% was handled by the major ports and balance by non-major and private ports. The existing capacity of major ports is estimated to be 397.5 million tons whereas the cargo handled by them is in the region of 383.75 million tons.  With GDP projected to grow at 9 to 10% pa, port development works have acquired an added impetus and the National Maritime Development Programme (NMDP) bears testimony to this. 

 

The NMDP Report has projected that the total volume of traffic handled by all ports in 2011-12 in the country would be 876.7 million tons. Industry sources however predict that the total volume could as well reach 1 billion tons by 2011-12, as the economy continues to grow in a robust manner.

 

Mr.GRK Reddy further opined that "one of the major challenges faced by the port industry is the inadequate draught in the existing ports for handling post panamax and capsize vessels and huge oil tankers". In order to overcome this, the NMDP has envisaged substantial investments in dredging/deepening of existing ports. Furthermore, host of captive and other private sector ports are being developed all along the country's long coast which has further enhanced the demand for dredging.

 

For year 2005, the dredging market is estimated at Rs 650 Cr per annum, comprising of Rs 600 Cr of maintenance dredging and Rs 50 Cr of capital dredging. Dredging Corporation of India Ltd (DCI) is by far the most significant player in the Indian dredging market.

 

In terms of the NMDP report, the total expenditure earmarked for dredging of all major ports by 2011-12 is estimated to be Rs 6304 Cr, out of the total port development expenditure of Rs 55804 Cr. This translates into a dredging volume of about 500 million cubm over six to seven year period After taking into account the maintenance dredging (about 60 million cubm), capital dredging in ports being developed by private sector and also in non-major ports owned by Governments/Maritime Boards, the total dredging market is estimated to exceed 150 to 160 million cubm per year.

 

At present the dredging industry in India is dominated by Dredging Corporation of India Ltd (DCI) in the public sector and the four major foreign companies of Boskalis, Dredging International, Jan De Nul and Van Oord. The four foreign companies amongst themselves is reported to own about 105 Trailer Suction Hopper Dredgers (TSHDs) and 83 Cutter Suction Dredgers (CSDs), compared to 10 TSHDs and 2 CSDs by DCI". Besides DCI, the other Indian companies/groups engaged in commercial dredging activities include Dharti, Mercantor, Chellarams and Jaisu.

 

Mr. B.G. Menon, Executive Director, Infrastructure, MARG Constructions Ltd informed that "considering the huge gap in the dredging market and the small number of fleet currently available with domestic companies, the dredging rates are hovering at around 30 to 40% above those prevailing a few years ago and this has rendered capital and maintenance dredging exceedingly expensive thereby adversely affecting the development/maintenance of ports in the country. Hence there is a need for augmenting the dredger fleet size in the country."

 

Mr. M. Subramanyam, Head Strategic Planning, MARG Constructions Ltd said "MARG Cauvery will be immediately deployed in the Karaikal Port. MARG is confident that with the experience garnered through the Karaikal Port Project and its plan to procure additional dredgers including Trailer Suction Hopper Dredgers, MARG will emerge as a key player in the dredging industry. Its track record of professionalism and India's infrastructure growth will help it realise this objective" 

 

Sourced From: Hanmer & Partners Communications Pvt. Ltd