Warship builder company Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd. and the DEMPO business group of Goa, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to launch a collaboration model to build commercial vessels in three premier shipyards of DEMPO at Goa and Bhavnagar in Gujarat. This is GRSE’s maiden attempt to diversify in a big way in commercial shipbuilding to capture a large market share in construction of commercial vessels, both domestic as well as international.
GRSE took the maiden initiative in India to make the Public Private collaboration model a success story in warship building. Aligning the same concept with the emerging commercial shipbuilding market, GRSE is now partnering with M/s V S Dempo Holdings Private Ltd to share their shipbuilding resources with GRSE to build commercial vessels on the west coast.
According to a report India’s contribution to commercial shipbuilding globally is less than 1 percent today which is far lower than 3.5 % achieved during 2007. It also stated that even with the subsidy the private shipyards are not competitive and state-owned shipyards are content with available defence orders. GRSE took the onus of breaking this glass ceiling and actively engaged itself to use its technology and resources to compete with countries like China, Vietnam and Turkey – the low-cost shipbuilders to win contracts from European, Middle Eastern and African markets.
According to a press release , Chairman & Managing Director of GRSE Commodore P R Hari, brought out that in spite of challenges there is a positive outlook in the global commercial shipbuilding sector. The rise of Chinese competition in recent years and stricter environmental regulations are making it difficult for the Indian shipbuilders to meet the global demand. However, he assured that the shipbuilding and repair industry is undergoing rapid technological change which is creating new opportunities for companies that can keep up with the latest trends. To avail the business opportunity of growing demand in the commercial vessel sector, GRSE has identified a suitable partner for progressing with commercial shipbuilding. He explained that most of the export clients are from Europe and the Middle East. The shipyards of the DEMPO group give a positional advantage to these clients for shifting the delivered vessels from India in comparison to China, Vietnam and Turkey.
” The Chairman of DEMPO Group of companies Srinivas Dempo expressed confidence that the collaboration between GRSE and Dempo will generate a very productive ecosystem, deriving strengths from each other’s expertise and leveraging capacities towards bagging more domestic and foreign shipbuilding orders. He also articulated about tremendous business potential in green shipbuilding which can be tapped by this collaboration and contribute towards achieving a sustainable and safer environment.
