The board of the national carrier has given formal approval to the acquisition of ships by 31 March, which includes a very large gas carrier (VLGC), a medium range tanker (MR Tanker), a container ship of over 9,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) capacity, a platform supply vessel (PSV) and one anchor handling, towing and supply vessel (AHTSV), one of the sources, a government official, said.
Shipping Corporation of India had last expanded its fleet in FY2017 when it acquired four vessels – two platform supply vessels, one VLGC and one Suezmax tanker – all second hand.
In December 2020, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), the government’s asset sale department, started the process of privatising Shipping Corporation of India, a so-called ‘navratna’ public sector undertaking, by selling the government’s 63.75 percent stake to a strategic buyer. The sale process is yet to reach a conclusion. SCI is India’s biggest shipping company by fleet size and is the country’s only shipping company that owns very large crude carriers or so-called oil super tankers. It has five VLCC’s on its fleet.
