India could benefit from Maersk repair and shipbuilding work
Cochin, one of several shipyards standing to benefit from an Indian ship repair renaissance (Source: Cochin Shipyard)
Remarks from a Maersk representative indicate that the liner giant intends to “come up the value chain” from ship recycling, including proposals for new repair and shipbuilding work for Indian shipyards.
Maersk has expressed an interest in tapping up revamped Indian shipyards for repair work on its fleet, demonstrated by remarks from Capt. Prashant Widge, Head of ESG & Public Affairs, South Asia, A. P. Moller-Maersk this month.
“We’ve been recycling our assets in India over the last decade,” Capt. Prashant told attendees of a Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) meeting in Mumbai. “So, we want to come up the value chain,” he said, from ship recycling and into “ship repairs and eventually also shipbuilding opportunities.”
Repair work on one of shipping’s largest fleets could be a boon for India’s ambition to overhaul shipyards in the coming years, with the aim of becoming what Premier Modi referred to this year as a “top-five shipbuilder.”
Shipyards are also expected to be supported by US Naval repair work. Speaking with India’s Economic Times, Capt. B K Tyagi, MD of Shipping Corporation of India, said that Indian shipbuilding and ship repair also stands to benefit from a diminishing workforce in South Korean yards, which had the “technology, expertise and experience… but the local population is no more interested in shipbuilding.”
