KOCHI: A newly-built ship-building facility of Hooghly Cochin Shipyard Ltd (HCSL) was dedicated to the nation at Nazirgunge, Howrah, West Bengal by Sarbananda Sonowal, minister of port, shipping and waterways & Ayush.
The Rs 180 crore facility, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cochin Shipyard Ltd, a PSE under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, is expected to give a great impetus to water transport connectivity to the North-Eastern states.
Shantanu Thakur, Minister of State of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, was present on the launch occasion, held on Tuesday.
Sonowal said the Hooghly Cochin Shipyard will provide a boost in meeting the requirements of new generation, high technology, greener vessels to propel further growth in inland water transport along the national waterways. "The yard will not only enable economic development in the close region but will also provide direct and indirect employment as well as the development of the MSMEs and ancillaries," he said.
The Union minister said HCSL will follow the footsteps of Cochin Shipyard Limited to carry on and further build up on CSL’s glorious legacy in creating an Atmanirbhar Bharat as envisioned by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and also towards the creation of a high-quality, globally recognized, cleaner and greener ship-building ecosystem,” Sonowal said.
HCSL was set up reviving the two-century-old HDPEL shipbuilding yard at Nazirgunge and therefore amalgamates its rich and long shipbuilding heritage with the outstanding expertise of CSL, which has proven experience in designing, building and delivering high-quality complex vessels to clients throughout the world. "This is an example of huge contribution to the nation by reviving a sick unit through another PSE and converting it into a modern shipyard," he said, in a release here.
HCSL facility is strategically located with both slipway launching (up to 80 meters) and side launching facilities (up to 110 metres) as well as outfitting jetties.
National Waterway-1 covers Ganga–Bhagirathi–Hooghly for a length of 1,620 km covering the states of UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and NW-2 covers West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Meghalaya. Jal Marg Vikas project is a Government of India initiative for capacity augmentation of shipping and navigation on the national waterways No 1. This would enable commercial navigation of 1500-2000 ton vessels in Phase 1. The development of the national waterways will provide business opportunities for cargo movements, passenger vessel construction and operations, cruise operations, ship repairs etc. Further, under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, there is an opportunity to build deep sea fishing vessels at HCSL.
HCSL aims to position itself as a lead player in inland waterway vessel construction in the country. It will serve the inland water transport sector by the construction of inland water vessels for the transport of men & material along & across the National Waterways, mainly Ganga (NW1) & Brahmaputra (NW2). HCSL will also aid in the indigenous construction of green vessels including Hybrid and Pure electric operated vessels, non-conventional fuels and fuel cells technology operated vessels, coastal and inland river vessels, river cruise vessels, river container vessels, LNG and Methanol fuel vessels and barges. HCSL can provide comprehensive support to clients by not only constructing technologically advanced vessels but also by providing life cycle support for the maintenance and upkeep of the vessels.
The event was attended by Prasun Banerjee, Member of Parliament, Madhu S Nair, Chairman HCSL & CMD CSL, and Directors of CSL, among others.