Cochin Shipyard to invest Rs 1,200 crore to build dry dock

State-owned Cochin Shipyard will be investing Rs 1,200 crore for setting up dry dock facility to build LNG carrier ships, Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari today said.
"The vessels for transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) will be built at a cost of Rs 1,500 crore each. Cochin Shipyard will partner with a French company to build the ship," he said at a conference to mark 100 days of NDA government.
In addition, other shipyards in India will be making two more LNG ships.
Cochin Shipyard will also be undertaking building of dredgers for Paradip Port and the Dredging Corporation of India in collaboration with foreign technology suppliers, the minister said.

The cost of first dredger is expected to be around Rs 500 crore.
"It has also been decided that the Cochin Shipyard will be building cargo and passenger vessels as well as dredgers for the inland water transport sector," he added.

In order to promote shipping industry in India, the Ministry of Shipping is coming out with a comprehensive Ship Building Scheme.
The proposed scheme will encourage the Indian ship yards to bag foreign ship building orders in a more aggressive manner and to meet the requirement of Indian ship owners.
The ministry is formulating a scheme to construct and upgrade exclusive coastal berths and infrastructure at major ports to facilitate coastal shipping.