Big ‘Make in India’ boost! Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is all set to lay the foundation stone for the country’s largest dry dock at Cochin Shipyard in Kochi, worth Rs 1799 crore. The new dry dock will be 310 m long, 75 m wide, with a depth of 13 m and drought of 9.5 m. It is being designed to handle a load of 600 T/m with international safety standards. Moreover, it will be designed to handle both ship building and repairs. The project will equip the Cochin Shipyard to manufacture specialised and technologically advanced large vessels like LNG carriers, drill ships, jack up rigs, large dredgers, aircraft carrier for Indian Army and high-end research vessels. Also, the dock will be provided with 600 T gantry crane and two LLTT cranes, water treatment plant and green belt development.
The dry dock project is likely to increase India’s share in global ship building to 2 per cent and also to give an impetus to ‘Make in India’ initiative of Modi government under Sagarmala. At present, India occupies 0.66 per cent share in global ship building market. Worth Rs 3,200 crore, the commercial ship building industry in the country focuses primarily on small-medium sized off-shore vessels and cargo/bulk carriers. The Cochin Shipyard currently has two dry docks, out of which one is used for ship building of size 255m x 43 x 9m and capacity 1,10,000 DWT, while the other one is used for ship repair of size 270m x 45m x 12m and capacity 1,25,000 DWT.
The project will build ‘Green Ships’ and will make Kochi a one-stop maritime hub for repair needs in South East Asia. The project, which is likely to be completed by the month of May, year 2021, will lead to socio-economic growth of the region and promote skill development. Also, it is expected to generate employment opportunities for nearly 2,000 people.