News Brief
India’s Biggest Floating Dry Dock Moves Closer To Assembly At Mazagon Dock’s Nhava Yard
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State-run Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd, India’s leading warship manufacturer, is constructing country’s largest floating dry dock at Nhava Island near Mumbai.
The initiative is part of a Rs 5,000 crore expansion plan to help undertake large size ship orders.
The Rs 475 crore contract to construct the floating dry dock, measuring 180 meters in length, 44 meters in width, and 19.5 meters in height, has been awarded to private firm Shoft Shipyard Pvt Ltd.
Mazagon Dock reportedly plans to invest over Rs 1,000 crore in the 40-acre Nhava facility.
The investment covers jetty development, facility for holding the vessel, dredging and other associated works.
The floating dry dock is being built in six blocks which will be towed to the Nhava jetty of Mazagon Dock for assembling and launching, ET Infra reported citing a person with knowledge of the plan.
The dry dock is so high it cannot be built as a single piece.
Four of the six blocks have been completed at Shoft Shipyard’s Bharuch facility in Gujarat, while the remaining two are under construction.
These blocks are expected to reach the Nhava jetty by March.
“Mazagon Dock is going for a big makeover to cater to the huge orders from the Indian Navy, the Coast Guard as well as future commercial orders," the person added.
It will support the construction of large ships, including next-generation destroyers and repair vessels, and can handle up to eight ships simultaneously.
In a separate development, Mazagon Dock plans to build a combined shipbuilding and repair facility on a 15-acre plot adjacent to its current yard, leased from the Mumbai Port Authority.
The company intends to construct a graving dry dock measuring approximately 180 meters in length and 60 meters in width, along with ancillary facilities capable of supporting both shipbuilding and repairs.
Currently, its existing yard accommodates 11 submarines and 10 warships simultaneously.
“With the additional capex, the capacity would be practically doubling, not only in terms of numbers, (but) in terms of size of the vessels also, much larger vessels we will be able to handle,” Chairman and Managing Director, Sanjeev Singhal told analysts during second quarter earnings call on 5 November.
Singhal said that Mazagon Dock is “gainfully utilising” the cash balance of some Rs 4,000 crores for capacity enhancement.
“Whatever infrastructure is being created; this is being created for large size ships. And as per the requirement, whatever submarines are required, that can be handled with the same infrastructure, because submarines are smaller in dimension,” Singhal stated.
“We are looking for export orders. We are looking for commercial (orders). And we are looking for repairs of large vessels, which currently we are not in a position to undertake,” he added.
