Engineering giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) today said it has fast-tracked production of ships for the Indian Coast Guard and has laid keels for two vessels today while system integration is on in two others slated for launch this year.
The company is building a series of in-house designed seven new generation offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) for the Indian Coast Guard against a 2015 contract stipulating deliveries between 2018 to 2021.
"The first OPV, despite being the First of Class (FOC), was delivered in April 2018, ahead of schedule ... Today, the keels of 5th and 6th OPVs were laid by Inspector General TP Sadanandan, TM, Deputy Director General (Materiel & Maintenance) Indian Coast Guard at L&T's Defence Shipyard at Kattupalli near Chennai," the company said in a statement.
L&T said it had launched the second OPV in January 2018, which is presently being readied for sea trials and is planned to be delivered ahead of schedule shortly, while system integration is in progress in third and fourth OPVs, which are slated for launch later this year.
L&T's Defence shipyard at Kattupalli features a shiplift system along with multiple dry and wet berths that enables concurrent construction of multiple ships.
Earlier this year, L&T delivered to the Indian Navy,India's first indigenously designed and built Floating Dock (FDN),which can dock warships / submarines of up to 8000 tonnes of displacement.