Cochin Shipyard, a public-sector enterprise under the Ministry of Shipping, which is looking to build three of the nine vessels for GAIL (India) to transport LNG, got a fillip when French engineering company GTT approved the company's yard for building LNG carrier containment system.

This will give a fillip to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" initiative.

The certificate was given to Cochin Shipyard by GTT on Monday, making the company's yard the sole ship-building facility to be certified to make LNG carriers, reported The Hindu.

Each LNG vessel, for which GAIL (India) floated tenders, costs about $220 million.

Only about 10 days ago, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had said it had given its nod to the initial public offering of Cochin Shipyard. The CCEA approved sale of 3.39 crore shares of the company, comprising a fresh issue of 2.26 crore shares and divestment of 1.13 crore shares.

The ministry of shipping said that the proceeds of the issue would be utilised for expanding the infrastructure of the company including building larger vessels and LNG carriers.

For the half-year ended 30 September, 2015, Cochin Shipyard had reported earnings of Rs 716 crore and net profit of Rs 136 crore (including other income of Rs 57.49 crore), as against earnings of Rs 864.77 crore and net profit of Rs 123 crore during the corresponding period last year.

The company's paid-up capital as on 30 September, 2015 was Rs 113.28 crore.

On 10 December, besides approving the IPO and expansion plans of Cochin Shipyard, the CCEA also gave its nod to Garden Reach Ship Builders & Engineers, Goa Shipyard and Hindustan Shipyard for their expansion plans for a combined value of about Rs 2,700 crore, according to Pon Radhakrishnan, Minister of State for Shipping. 

The company-wise expansion plans are:

Garden Reach Ship Builders & Engineers: 

  • Modern hull shop, upgradation of TRIBON ship design software, augmenting capacity of inclined berth, shipbuilding shop, etc.
  • Dry Dock of 10,000-ton capacity, inclined berth of 4,500-ton capacity, Pier Quay and associated works & systems.
  • Goliath Crane of 250-ton capacity.
  • Module Hall, Paint Cell & Equipment.

Goa Shipyard: 

  • Installation of 6,000-ton ship-lift & transfer system with associated civil structures.
  • Additional construction of berths for Offshore Patrol Vessels from one to three.
  • Augmentation of Jetty Berthing Space from four wet berths to 10 wet berths.
  • Augmented material handling & crane capacity due to addition of new workshop cranes from 30-ton to 80-ton capacity.
  • New Level Luffing outdoor cranes upto to 80-ton lifting capacity, two new block transporters of 100-ton capacity.
  • Increased repair capability with two berth for repairs of ships up to 6,000-ton and rationalisation of layout and material flow for efficient modular construction methodology.

Hindutan Shipyard: 

An expansion programme for repair and refurbishment of machinery & infrastructure (RRMI) has been chalked out at an outlay of Rs 456.37 crore.

Mazagaon Dock: 

  • Creation of Module Workshop, 300-ton Goliath Crane, New wet Basin and Cradle Assembly Shop.
  • Augmentation of outfitting capacity from three to five Warships and from three to six submarines.
  • Augmentation of submarine related infrastructure.
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