September 28, 2020: Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders will develop 37 acre land it has adjacent to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust into a dockyard as the firm plans to diversify its order book, which is currently dependent on the Indian Navy.
According to a preliminary study, it will take five-seven years to build the facility at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore.
Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders is in the process of hiring a consultant who can carry out the examination needed and commensurate with funds required for the project.The entire fund requirement, however, will not come at one time.
Mazagon Dock annually spends about Rs 100 crore as maintenance capex at its facility in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is looking to maintain or repair merchant ships at this facility, with the Jawaharlal Nehru Port at close proximity.
Currently, the company has an order book of Rs 15,470 crore which is entirely from the Indian Navy and executable over a span of six-seven years. So far the company is on schedule to deliver one of the ordered submarines to the Indian Navy by the end of 2020.
The company is also in talks with the coast guard to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to identify if Mazagon Dock has vessel orders mainly for repair and maintenance.
Though the dockyard has only the Indian Navy orders at present, the company is engaged in talks with parts of Africa such as Nigeria and Ghana along with Portugal, Bangladesh and parts of West Asia to build non-warships with an aim to build its export vertical for revenue stream.
The Indian Navy assigns its orders mainly to Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, Goa Shipyard, Hindustan Shipyard and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers.
Source: Construction Week Online
