Cochin Shipyard — maker of INS Vikrant and hydrogen ships — to repair US Navy ships

One of India’s leading shipbuilders in the public sector, Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) which built India's first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, has signed a Master Shipyard Repair Agreement (MSRA) with the United States Navy to repair its ships in India.

The MSRA is a non-financial agreement and is effective from April 5, 2024. This will facilitate the repair of US Naval vessels under the Military Sealift Command in CSL. Cochin Shipyard has qualified to enter into the Master Shipyard Repair Agreement (MSRA) after a detailed evaluation process and capability assessment by the US Navy – Military Sealift Command, the CSL informed the stock exchanges, last week.

CSL is currently constructing an International Ship Repair Facility (ISRF) in an area of 16.25 hectares in Kochi with an investment of ₹970 crore. The project was inaugurated on January 17 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is expected to be fully operational soon after the completion of allied works. Further, the shipyard is also building India's largest dry dock, with an investment of ₹1,799 crore.

Two weeks ago, CSL carried out the steel cutting of the first vessel in a series of two vessels of the Sea Shuttle zero emission feeder container project being built for Samskip, a leading logistics company headquartered in the Netherlands. This sea shuttle project is one of the world's first Zero Emission Feeder Container Vessels using Green Hydrogen as the fuel. The shipyard had developed India's first fully indigenous hydrogen fuel cell catamaran ferry vessel as a pilot project, which was flagged off on 28th February.

In January, CSL got an international order from a European client to construct hybrid Service Operation Vessels (SOVs) for the offshore wind renewables market. The construction of a series of eight Multi-Purpose Vessels for a German client is also progressing fast at the yard, besides Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvettes and New Generation Missile Vessels for Indian defence forces, says sources.

CSL has a shipbuilding order book position of ₹21,500 crore, of which ₹16,064 crore orders are from the Indian Navy, by the end of Q3 FY24. The shipyard also has ship repair orders worth ₹700 crore. In nine months of FY24, CSL had a total income of ₹2,774.47 crore, with a profit after tax of ₹548 crore.