KOCHI: Construction of the third drydock of Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL), at the sprawling facility at Ravipuram, in Kochi, is expected to be completed by December, with the yard ready for operation by June 2024. On completion, the drydock will be among the largest in the country. With the capacity to handle vessels of up to 70,000-tonne docking displacement, it has been built in expectation of the second indigenous aircraft carrier project of the Indian Navy.
“The new drydock will be the third of its kind in the Ravipuram campus and will provide fresh impetus for propelling CSL’s growth story. The new drydock, along with the soon-to-be-completed International Ship Repair Facility (ISRF) at Willingdon Island, will make Kochi a one-stop maritime hub for repair needs of all vessels calling at Indian ports,” said CSL chairman and managing director Madhu S Nair.
The Rs 1,799-crore drydock project has a design life of 100 years. Measuring 310m x 75/60m x 13m, it has a unique ‘stepped’ layout. There is a step on the southern side of the dock, which enables longer vessels to fill the length of the dock and wider, shorter vessels and maritime equipment such as rigs to be constructed at the wider part of the dock.
This is also a dual-purpose drydock planned essentially to tap the market potential of repairs/construction of specialised and large vessels such as LNG vessels, jack-up rigs, drill ships, large dredgers, aircraft carriers and repair of offshore platforms, ‘green ships’ such as LNG carriers and other larger vessels.
The drydock has a draught of up to 9.5m and will be equipped with a gantry crane of 600-tonne capacity. Two jib cranes of 75-tonne and 40-tonne capacity are provided on both sides of the dock. The dock floor is 2.5m thick at the central keel portion and 1.5m thick at all other areas. A sub-floor drainage system is provided on the underside of the floor to reduce the water pressure by continuously draining away any water.
Three intermediate gate locations have been provided, enabling the dock to be split into smaller operating sections. On both sides of the dock, piers are provided to accommodate the goliath crane rail extensions into the Ernakulam channel. The hauling-in system on the dock can pull the ship in or out using minimal human intervention. Also, the dock-arm machine can be used to reach inaccessible areas of the docked ship with ease. A pump house with three main dewatering pumps of 23,000 m3/hour capacity has been provided to empty the dock in 3.5 hours.
The project is expected to contribute towards the target of increasing India’s share of the global shipbuilding industry from 0.4% to 2% and also emerge as a dominant ship-repair centre, replacing Colombo, Dubai, Singapore, and Bahrain. It will also help in generating employment opportunities for 2,000 people in the core shipbuilding as well as ancillary and supporting sectors. It will help to develop a strong ancillary base in the country for shipbuilding.
What is drydock?
A drydock is an enclosed basin that can be flooded to allow a ship to be floated in, followed by locking shut the entrance gate and then drained to allow that ship to come to rest on a dry platform. This functionality makes drydocks the most precious asset of any shipyard that deals with building as well as repairing of large ships.