KOCHI: The Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) delivered the first vessel in a series of six 3,800 dead weight tonnage (DWT) dry cargo vessels to Norway’s Wilson Ship Management AS, the largest short sea shipping company in Europe on Thursday.
The vessel, christened Wilson Eco 1 Project, was built at the Udupi unit of the CSL and the vessel was handed over to the Norwegian firm at a function held at the New Mangalore Port.
Chief financial officer of Wilson Ship Management AS, Einar Torsnes, New Build superintendent Sergey Bogdashov and the Wilson’s site team were present at the occasion.
Wilson Ship Management AS, headquartered in Bergen, is the largest short sea fleet in Europe. Every year they transport about 15 million tonnes of dry cargo across Europe. Wilson Ship Management has a fleet of around 130 vessels ranging from 1,500 to 8,500 DWT, all of similar design with a core objective to carry any cargo at any time. Subsequent to the start of production of the 3,800 series vessels, Wilson Ship Management has signed a further order for construction of eight 6,300 DWT general cargo vessels with Udupi-CSL at a total cost of Rs 1,041 crore.
Udupi-CSL, formerly known as Tebma Shipyards Limited, was taken over by CSL in 2020 through an order of the National Company Law Tribunal and started operations in 2021. In the last three years, the shipyard has constructed and delivered eight aluminium hulls for the Kochi Water Metro Project, eight tuna long liner-cum-gill netters, two 62 T Bollard Pull Tugs for Ocean Sparkle Limited and two 70T Bollard Pull Tugs to Polestar Maritime Limited.