Cochin Shipyard has orders for 65 vessels worth Rs 22,000 crore and is interested in eco-friendly ships

India’s leading shipbuilder Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) is focusing on building modern vessels powered by green energy as it looks to deliver 65 ships worth over ₹22,000 crore from global and domestic customers, including the Indian Navy, its chairman and managing director Madhu S. Nair said.

The move comes amid global concerns about carbon emissions exacerbating climate change, with the focus now gradually shifting to building “green ships” – vessels that run on less polluting fuels such as methanol, electricity, green hydrogen and hybrid batteries.

“CSL has a historically high order book of around ₹“The total investment will be Rs 22,000 crore, involving construction of 65 ships, with the bulk of the orders being for manufacturing of 14 warships and 22 coastal vessels for European customers, including those in Germany, Norway, Cyprus and the Netherlands. Apart from these, we are focusing on manufacturing of green ships and are already fulfilling overseas orders for hydrogen-methanol fuel cell ships, electric ships, hybrid ships and other sophisticated ships – commissioning, support and operations vessels (CSOV) for British and German-Cypriot customers,” Nair told Mint in an interview.

Scaling up

While most of the green ship technologies involving fuel cells, methanol and electricity are currently being incorporated, and CSL is using them to build ships for Western markets, it is now looking into technology transfer agreements with some European shipping technology companies to scale up and take up the full manufacturing of these next-generation ships for global and Indian markets.

“Under the ‘Make in India, make for the World’ programme, we are establishing global partnerships in all areas where domestic technology is yet to mature. We will also look at technology transfer from some of our partners. Also, we have developed technology for small boats running on hydrogen fuel cells. A ferry built using this technology will be tested on our inland waterways near Varanasi. It would be a technology demonstrator now and would be scaled up and adopted in future for commercial production of these eco-friendly boats,” Nair added.

State-owned CSL, whose main shipbuilding plant is in Kochi, also has subsidiaries, one based in Kolkata and another based in Udupi in Karnataka, that manufacture coastal and eco-friendly boats for Indian and European customers. In addition, CSL also has three smaller ship repair units outside Kochi – in Mumbai, Kolkata and Port Blair.

Ship repair facilities

The company invested around ₹Rs 3,000 crore will be invested this year to complete the work on a new 310-metre-long dry dock and another International Ship Repair Facility (ISRF) at Kochi. This is expected to increase the capacity of the ship repair facility from just under 100 ships per annum to over 160, enabling it to undertake large-scale ship repair work for the global market. Consideration is being given to building another ship repair facility on the West Coast to cater to the demand from passing ships.

Stock of Cochin Shipyard closed with an increase of approximately 10% ₹1,846 on the National Stock Exchange on Friday.

“We have just commissioned the two facilities with the flooding of the dry dock and have received three ship repair orders for ISRF. We are looking to further expand the ship repair facilities. Between these two investments and our expansions in Kolkata, we have invested approximately ₹“Over the last five years, Rs 3,200 crore has been invested. Further investments will be considered when the opportunity arises. The company is focusing on optimising and improving the execution of its current orders rather than expanding capacity immediately,” Nair said.

The Udupi and Hooghly facilities are being considered to cater to mainly international clients and high-tech products including green vessels, green tugs and coastal vessels demanded by European clients. The Kochi facility would cater to the demand of the Indian Navy and new technology demonstration products including production of large-sized vessels.

Earlier this month, CSL laid the keel of India’s largest dredger, DCI Dredge Godavari, marking a significant milestone in the country’s maritime capabilities. This Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger (TSHD) with a hopper capacity of 12,000 cubic metres was built for the Dredging Corporation of India Ltd. DCI Dredge Godavari was built in collaboration with Royal IHC, Netherlands. Once commissioned, this dredger will be the most sophisticated and technologically advanced dredger ever built in India.