India’s Cochin Shipyard is looking to expand its operations as it plans to establish new ship building and repair facilities in Andaman and Nicobar, Gujarat, Kolkata and Mumbai.
The shipbuilder’s expansion plan was unveiled by Nitin Gadkari, India’s Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, in an interview with Press Trust of India.
The Minister informed that “world-class ship repair and ship building” operations are is expected to be conducted at the new facilities, adding that an agreement with Andaman and Nicobar “has been formalised to this effect” .
The plans were revealed on the back of the shipbuilder’s initial public offering (IPO) , through which Cochin Shipyard raised INR 14.4 billion (USD 224.8 million) after being listed in Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange on August 11, 2017.
As a combination of fresh issue and offer for sale in the ratio of 2:1, the IPO was oversubscribed by over 75 times.
Cochin Shipyard intended to use the proceeds of the fresh issue part, totaling some INR 9.61 billion (USD 149.7 million), to partly fund two expansion projects costing up to INR 28 billion (USD 436.3 million).
The two projects are setting up a dry dock at the Cochin Shipyard premises to accommodate bigger ships for building and repair and a ship repair facility in the adjacent Cochin Port Trust premises by setting up a ship lift and transfer system.
World Maritime News Staff