Sonowal dedicates Hooghly Cochin Shipyard Ltd to nation

Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal dedicated to the nation a revamped shipbuilding facility of Hooghly Cochin Shipyard Ltd in West Bengal’s Howrah district.

The facility was developed by Hooghly Cochin Shipyard Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL), at Rs 180 crore.

Hooghly Cochin Shipyard Ltd

• The East Coast of India has throughout been the epicentre of maritime activity and has been the beacon for the country as far as shipbuilding is concerned. Towards this, Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) in its endeavour to further strengthen the shipbuilding sector in this region has taken on the age old legacy of Hooghly Dock and Port Engineers Limited (HDPEL) who were the pioneers of shipbuilding in the eastern coast of the country. 

• HDPEL is one of the oldest shipyards of the country established in the year 1819. 

• CSL took over this yard which includes facilities at Nazirgunge and Salkia and rechristened as Hooghly Cochin Shipyard Limited (HCSL) in October 2017 as a joint venture with HDPEL and thereafter HCSL became a wholly owned subsidiary of CSL with effect from November 1, 2019, pursuant to the approval of the Union Cabinet.

• CSL has refurbished and restructured the Nazirgunge unit into a modern shipbuilding facility.

• The new facility will focus on building inland river cruise and coastal vessels, deep sea fishing ships, dredgers and others.

• It will serve the inland water transport sector by construction of inland water vessels for transport of men & material along and across the National Waterways, mainly Ganga (NW1) & Brahmaputra (NW2). 

• National Waterway-1 covers Ganga–Bhagirathi–Hooghly for a length of 1,620 km covering Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal. NW-2 covers West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. 

• The development of National Waterways will provide business opportunities for cargo movements, passenger vessel construction and operations, cruise operations, ship repairs, etc.

• HCSL will also aid in the indigenous construction of green vessels including hybrid and pure electric operated vessels.

Cochin Shipyard Limited

• Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) was incorporated in the year 1972 as a fully owned government of India company. In the last four decades the company has emerged as a forerunner in the Indian shipbuilding and ship repair industry. 

• The government holds 72.86 per cent of equity share capital in the company.

• The company has built and repaired some of the largest ships, including the prestigious Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Vikrant for the Indian Navy.

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