India’s Cochin Shipyard aims to become regional ship repair hub
Cochin Shipyard is looking to become a regional ship repair hub after the inauguration of India’s largest drydock and the new International Ship Repair Facility (Source: Cochin Shipyard)
Following the official inauguration in January, India’s largest graving dock at Cochin Shipyards and the new International Ship Repair Facility (ISRF), the state-owned shipyard, in India’s southern State of Kerala, is looking to become a regional ship repair hub for both commercial vessels and naval/military craft. The two new facilities were officially inaugurated by India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who, somewhat rather grandiosely, said on January 17th that they will see “Kochi become Asia’s largest ship repair centre.” India’s head of state seems to be somewhat ignorant of the large ship repair facilities in both Malaysia and Singapore.
Cochin Shipyard’s graving dock measures 310m 70/65m x 13m, and has a draught of 9m, and is equipped with a 600-tonne capacity Goliath gantry crane and two jib cranes, one of 75 tonne capacity and one of 45 tonne capacity. The new drydocks floor is rated to take a load of 600 tonne/m and has been built at a cost of Rupees 1,799 crore (GBP 170.2 million) and will be used to both repair vessels and offshore structures as well as build them. The graving dock features a unique stepped layout. There is a step on the southern side of the dock which allows longer vessels to fill the dock, and smaller, wider vessels such as offshore rigs and platforms, to be either repaired or built at the wider part of the dock.
The graving dock features an intermediate dock gate, which can be positioned in three different locations, thereby dividing the dock into two sections for the repair of two vessels simultaneously. The dock is fitted with three main pumps of 23,000m3/hr. capacity, which can empty the drydock in three and a half hours. The new graving dock joins the yard’s original 125,000dwt capacity graving dock, which measures 270m x 45m x 12m.
Kochi’s new graving dock has been designed by Royal Haskoning DHV Consulting’s UK and Indian offices, and was constructed by Indian company Larsen & Tubro (L&T). The new drydock will enter service May/June this year and will be used for the first time to build the new 12,000m3 capacity TSHD DCI Dredge Brahmaptra for the Dredging Corporation of India. This dredger will be the first of Dutch dredging specialist IHC’s Beagle-12 type TSHD to be built anywhere outside of Holland. IHC will assist Cochin Shipyard with this project.
The new ISRF has been built on 45 acres of land on Willingdon Island leased from the Cochin Port Authority, at a cost of Rupees 970 crore (GBP 91.8 million), and features a graving dock, measuring 66m x 12.5m x 4m and a 6,000-tonne lifting capacity shiplift and transfer system, with six dry repair berths. The shiplift can accommodate a vessel of maximum size 130m x 26m.
Germany’s Inros Lackner SE and India’s Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd were the project management consultants for the ISRF, while construction of the new repair facility was originally placed in the hands of Simplex Infrastructure Ltd, but this company went out of business before the ISRF was completed, and Kochi-based RDS Projects Ltd was brought in to get the job done.
The shiplift and transfer system was designed by Germany’s IMG and Norway’s Syncrolift AS. The ISRF’s level luffing crane was purchased from Russia’s CJSC SMM, while the tower cranes were supplied by Germany’s Liebherr.
The ISRF is being developed as a Maritime Park, similar to Dubai Maritime City, which replaced the old Al Jaddaf ship repair centre in the middle of the city. Already, ten globally renowned marine service and repair companies have agreed to set up operations in the Maritime City’s first phase.
