HSL scouting for land at Mulapeta or Kakinada to set up satellite shipbuilding facility

Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL), which has made a spectacular turnaround after it was transferred from Ministry of Shipping to Ministry of Defence, has now set its eyes on establishing a satellite ship building centre.

After its tremendous success in ship repairs and the complicated submarine refit, HSL is now in talks with the State Government to acquire suitable land either at Mulapeta Port or Kakinada Port in view of huge potential for export and import cargo and port-led development.

"Making use of our rich experience in this field, we have already approached the State Government to allot suitable land either at Mulapeta or Kakinada, which are set to emerge as hubs for EXIM cargo," outgoing CMD of HSL Comde (retd) Hemanth Khatri said. The yard is scouting for 1200 to 1500 acres for establishing the facility after ascertaining facilities for jetty, draft and breakwater.

To a question, he admitted that Mulapeta will have a distinctive edge because of development of an international airport in the vicinity by the GMR Group at Bhogapuram. GMR Group is expected to complete the first phase of the airport at a cost of Rs.4500 crore by June, 2026. The first phase includes construction of the runway to handle wide bodied aircraft, terminal building and other facilities. As per the concession agreement signed with Andhra Pradesh Government, the airport will have an initial capacity to handle six million passengers with plans to increase it to 18 million in phases as per demand.

After improving its finances and commencing work on building six Fleet Support Ships for the Ministry of Defence atg an estimated cost of Rs.19,000 crore, HSL is actively pursuing business in major sectors like defence sector, Green vessels, commercial and oil & gas sector." In the Defence sector we have upcoming projects like LPD, mine counter measure vessels, next generation WJ FAC etc. In the Commercial segment, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has projected demand for 112 vessels, which primarily includes 30 medium-range product tankers, 24 Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGCs), and four offshore vessels of immediate requirement. In the Green vessels sector, we are aligning with the national drive towards sustainability by targeting electric and hydrogen-powered tugs for major Indian ports, such as Visakhapatnam Port Authority and Mumbai Port Authority. Moreover, in the oil & gas sector, we are eyeing opportunities for two wellhead platforms for Oil India Limited and two jack-up rigs for ONGC," Cmde Khatri said..

There is an emerging requirement to counter the Drone fighting capabilities in newly built vessels. Recently an MoU was signed with Pentagon Rugged Systems for developing anti-drone technology and long range NLOS communication for Naval vessels. "We have also entered into an MoU with BEML to develop indigenous marine systems in line with Atmanirbhar Bharat. HSL signed an MoU with Worlds leading Shipbuilding Company M/s Fincantieri and reputed design agency M/s DESC Korea to construct vessels embedded with latest technology and latest design integration," the outgoing CMD stated..