Visakhapatnam: Will India be building Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) of two billion barrel capacity in the near future?
It will, if Union minister of ports, shipping and waterways Sarbananda Sonowal is to be believed. These massive ships will be built at a shipbuilding hub being planned in the Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu.
This hub will be capable of building both naval vessels and cargo ships as per demand, the minister said during his address at the 10th Convocation ceremony of the state-run Indian Maritime University (IMU) in Visakhapatnam.
Increasing the Indian fleet of cargo ships is a thrust area of the government are billions of dollars are spent every year as hire charges for foreign vessels. VLCCs are oil tankers that can carry 200,000 to 320,000 metric tonnes of crude.
The Centre had recently announced that defence shipyards Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) have inked MoUs with the Tamil Nadu Government to invest Rs 30,000 crore ($3.4bn) to establish a shipbuilding hub in Thoothukudi, nearly 600 km south of Chennai. A Detailed Project Report (DPR) is being prepared.
CSL built India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant and also builds a wide range of commercial ships and tugs for foreign Governments and private entities.
MDL is known the French-origin Scorpene diesel-electric stealth submarines that are in service with the Indian Navy. MDL also has also builds destroyers and other warships for the Navy.
In his address, Sonowal said that India’s prosperity and security are linked to the seas, and that investment in the maritime sector is being scaled up to Rs 80 lakh crore (over $ 90 bn).
“Today, nine of our ports rank in the Top 100 ports of the world. Our ports’ turnaround time of 0.9 days is better than advanced maritime nations. We are constructing one of the largest container ports of the world at Vadhawan, north of Mumbai, Maharashtra,” he said.
Referring to India’s share in the seafaring profession, the Minister said that India had 1.25 lakh seafarers a decade ago, and today that number has grown to more than 3 lakhs. “India now ranks among the top three nations in the supply of seafarers.”
Emphasising the need for building and repairing cargo ships in India, the minister stated that only about five percent of the Export-Import cargo is carried on Indian owned/Indian-flagged vessels, resulting in Rs 6 lakh crores being paid annually to foreign sea freight service providers.
Sonowal also inaugurated the Rs 305 crore India Ship Technology Centre (ISTC) at the Visakhapatnam IMU campus via virtual mode. This Centre will be responsible for the overall development of the capabilities of the Indian shipbuilding sector.
It is meant to provide a common platform for the Indian shipbuilding industry by providing access to common facilities, skilling of future personnel, providing an ecosystem for ship design, R&D, engineering capabilities, among others. The facility is expected to foster collaborations between IMU, shipyards, research institutions, government bodies, and create an ecosystem for knowledge exchange.
