Indian firm L&T's shipyard to be operational by Jan 2012

[Galaxy]

Indian firm L&T's shipyard to be operational by Jan 2012

Sep 20, 2011

CHENNAI (PTI): The shipyard being set up by Indian engineering major Larsen &Toubro at Kattupalli near here would become operational by January next year, a top company official has said.

The shipyard would enable India to compete globally with Japan and South Korea in building large-sized warships, car carriers and submarines, L&T Board Member and President (Heavy Engineering) M V Kotwal said.

The Shipyard is being set up by the company in association with the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation.

Addressing at a seminar here, Kotwal said the company had invested Rs 4,000 crore for the first phase of the yard spread across 1,250 acres.

"It is going to be a monster of facilities"¦ It can handle 18,000 tonne ships and right now, the (work on) ship-lift is nearing completion... it will be operational by January 2012...," he said.

Stating the yard was indigenously designed by L&T, Kotwal later told reporters that the first ship from the Kattupalli Shipyard was expected to be rolled out by 2012-13.

"By 2012-13 it (first ship) should be rolled out," he said to a query.

According to the official, the Kattupalli Shipyard, located near Ennore Port, and the company's another facility at Hazira (in Gujarat) would be simultaneously used by Larsen and Toubro for manufacturing ships.

The company was also setting up large workshops for repairs at Kattupalli.

"Chennai is blessed geographically for setting up ship repairs... as currently they are done only in Singapore and Colombo," he said.

Kotwal said the company has bagged a project from the Coast Guard to manufacture 36 highspeed "interceptor" vessels which can travel up to 45 knots per hour. "We are thinking of distributing some orders to Kattupalli shipyard (from Hazira facility) once this becomes operational," he said.

He said the ship building industry was expected to touch USD 20 billion by 2020.

Indian firm L&T�s shipyard to be operational by Jan 2012 - Brahmand.com

 

[plugwater]

L&T not to compete with Chinese shipyards

CHENNAI, SEPT. 20:
Larsen & Toubro will not enter into low-end competition (of building regular commercial vessels) with Chinese shipyards, but will compete with Japanese and Korean shipyards in building 'specialised ships' at its Kattupalli facility near Chennai, according to a company official.

"Our strength will be automation that will give 10-12 per cent cost competiveness over Japanese and Korean shipyards," said Mr M.V. Kotwal, President, Operations and Member of the Board, L&T. In the first phase, around Rs 4,000 crore is being invested in the facility that will start rolling out ships from January, he said.

China, the world's largest manufacturers of ships, is known for rolling out huge number of commercial ships, including large-size container and bulk ships. But the Japanese and Korean shipyards are known for building 'specialised ships' such as war ships, he said on the sidelines of a seminar here.

DESIGN CENTRE

L&T has set up a 'marine design centre' in Chennai to design ships at the Kattupalli shipyard, which is at present building high interceptor boats (capable to reach 40 knots per hour) for the Indian Coast Guard.

The company has won an order from the Coast Guard to build 36 interceptor boats.

Of this, nearly 20 will be built at its Hazira shipyard and the balance at Kattupalli, he said.

However, the plan is to build specialised vessels such as large-size warships, car carriers, submarines, naval offshore patrol vessels, fast patrol vessels and corvette.

In future, the company will think about building LNG ships. Mr Kotwal said after a due diligence of the entire Indian coast, the company chose Kattupalli to have the shipyard for its proximity to the international shipping lane and the availability of talent in the region.

At present, Colombo and Singapore are two major international destinations for ship repairs while Kattupalli will be third in the region, he said.

Business Line : Industry & Economy / Logistics : L&T not to compete with Chinese shipyards

 

[debasree]

good to know ,i want they also concentrate to build subs and amphibious vessels for our navy ,we are aquite nead of those toys

 

[plugwater]

good to know ,i want they also concentrate to build subs and amphibious vessels for our navy ,we are aquite nead of those toys

Its not like they build one and sell for highest bidder

If MoD offers any contract they ll build it.

 

[Zebra]

L&T set to partner Hindustan Shipyard

Ruchika Chitravanshi / New Delhi September 21, 2011, 0:39 IST

Larsen & Toubro is set to partner government-owned Hindustan Shipyard for shipbuilding, as the defence ministry has recommended the company as the preferred partner.

Sources familiar with the developments said L&T emerged as the strongest contender because of its experience in building submarines and its location on the same coastline as Hindustan Shipyard. The deal is yet to be formally tied up but an announcement is expected soon.

Hindustan Shipyard had received expression of interest from L&T, Pipavav, ABG Shipyard and Sembawang Shipyard for a joint venture agreement for shipbuilding activity.

If it finally manages to get the mandate, L&T will have lots to cheer about after it had expressed disappointment over the recent deal between Pipavav Shipyard and Mazagon Dock. Among others, ABG Shipyard is also believed to have raised a lot of questions about the Pipavav deal.

The L&T spokesperson refused to comment on the matter. When contacted, Hindustan Shipyard's chairman N K Mishra did not confirm the development. Engineering major L&T is also setting up a shipyard in Kattupalli in association with Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, expected to be operational by January 2012. So, while Pipavav and Mazagon had the west coast as the common area of operation, L&T and Hindustan Shipyard have facilities on the eastern coast. L&T has invested Rs 4,000 crore for the first phase of the shipyard, spread across 1,250 acres at Kattupalli, while Hindustan Shipyard is in Visakhapatnam. The shipbuilding sector is not witnessing the best of times, with the industry facing a situation of oversupply in the market. It is for reasons like this the Shipping Corporation of India has put its plans of entering the shipbuilding sector on a slow lane. Even the initial public offer of Cochin Shipyard has been put on hold due to poor market conditions and also delays in its own projects.

The shipbuilding industry is well aware of the growing opportunities in the defence space. With commercial shipping at a low, this could be the opportunity all private players now want to tap into. "It is a unique situation of 'over-capacity' of one segment meeting 'unserviced demand' of another segment. It was a marriage waiting to be made," said Hemant Bhattbhatt, senior director, Deloitte.

According to industry experts, public sector shipyards have full order books and it makes sense to get private sector participation in the space and increase the focus on building manufacturing efficiencies to bring down costs.

"The reservation to supply in favour of the public sector is doing more harm to the Indian Navy since public sector units have their hands full and shipyards like MDL, which is already running many years behind deadlines in delivering the first of six Scorpene submarines that it was contracted to build under Project 75, are jeopardising the country's defence readiness," Bhatt added.

According to a committee set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the $11-billion submarine market of India must be directed towards the Indian private sector. Companies like ABG Shipyard, Bharati Shipyard and Pipavav Shipyard have been tying up with international engineering companies like Rolls Royce, Wartsila Diesel and Yanmer Marine, among others, to get a share of the Indian defence sector. "The Defence Procurement Policy in its 2011 recommendations has directed naval shipyards that as long as any naval order can be built in India it cannot be imported," a senior executive said.

http://http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/lt-set-to-partner-hindustan-shipyard/449956/

*****

It looks like - to get Defence orders they are trying to become partner with State owned shipyard .