Gadkari to lay foundation for India’s largest Dry Dock in Kerala
The Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will lay the foundation for India’s largest Dry Dock at Cochin Shipyard in Kerala tomorrow. The Dry Dock will give an impetus to “Make in India” initiative under Sagarmala and raise India’s share in global shipbuilding to 2 percent. India currently occupies 0.66 per cent share in global shipbuilding market.
The commercial ship building industry in India is worth Rs. 3,200 crore and focuses primarily on small-medium sized offshore vessels and cargo/bulk carriers. At present, Cochin Shipyard has two dry docks, one predominantly used for ship building of size 255m x 43 x 9m and capacity 1,10,000 DWT and the other one for ship repair of size 270 x 45 x 12m and capacity 1,25,000 DWT.
The new Dry Dock is being constructed at a cost of Rs 1799 crore. It will be 310 m long, 75m wide, with a depth of 13 m and drought of 9.5m. The dock will be designed to handle both ship building and repairs, and bear a load up to 600 T/m. It will be equipped with international safety standards. The dock will also have a water treatment plant and Green Belt Development. Equipped with this Dry Dock, Cochin Shipyard will be able to build specialized and technologically advanced large vessels like LNG Carriers, drill ships, jack up rigs, large dredgers, aircraft carriers for Indian Navy and high end research vessels.It will also help make Cochin a one stop maritime hub for all repair needs in South East Asia.
The project is expected to be completed by May 2021 and generate employment opportunities for about 2000 people.
Two 500 capacity passenger vessels built by CSL for Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration will also be launched on the occasion. These vessels will help enhance intra island connectivity.
