India-made fleets crafted in Kochi
NEW REVENUE STREAMS: Cochin Shipyard Ltd targets more income with the addition of a dry dock and the International Ship Repair Facility
As the world’s largest importer of oil, gas, coal, and fertilisers, India presents vast opportunities for its shipping industry — yet much of the business remains under foreign control. Last year, shipping requirement was pegged at $85 billion, with nearly 85 per cent of cargo transported by foreign vessels. This dependence, warns Cochin Shipyard Ltd Chairman and Managing Director Madhu S Nair, poses a serious risk as any global shipping disruption could send ripples across the Indian economy.
He points to the need for building a robust shipping ecosystem to meet the country’s growing maritime requirements. Especially since shipping has a cascading impact on the economy, driving growth across sectors. A comprehensive development of the sector would enable India to supply a wide range of goods to global markets. A vibrant maritime and shipbuilding space is now taking shape in the country to serve the expanding trade. Ship manufacturing, Nair adds, will energise overall economic activity and act as a powerful labour multiplier.
Madhu S Nair, Chairman and Managing Director, Cochin Shipyard
To strengthen its shipping industry, the government has launched several initiatives to support domestic shipbuilding. The announcement of a ₹70,000 crore package for the shipbuilding and maritime sector is aimed at propelling India into the global top 10 by 2030 and the top five by 2047.
The package envisages a four-pillar approach to enhancing domestic shipbuilding capacity and maritime infrastructure: facilitating long-term financing; promoting greenfield and brownfield shipyard development; enhancing technical capabilities; and undertaking legal, taxation and policy reforms.
Order bump
During the recently concluded Maritime India Week, in a major boost to the ‘Make in India’ initiative, public sector oil and gas companies placed 59 shipbuilding orders worth ₹47,800 crore. Shipping Corporation of India announced plans to expand its fleet to 216 vessels and Dredging Corporation of India said it plans to add 11 new dredgers. The Green Tug Transition Programme (GTTP) aims to generate a fleet of 100 eco-friendly tugboats by 2040.
“If the shipping requirement is mapped for the long term — at least 15 years from now — then the shipbuilding ecosystem can develop accordingly,” Nair says.
He recalled how Japan’s efforts to encourage shipbuilding after the Second World War brought prosperity to the country. Today, three countries — China, Korea and Japan — together control 93 per cent of the world’s shipbuilding business. On the other hand, India — with one-sixth of the world’s population and aspiring to be the third largest economy — accounts for barely 0.5 per cent of the global shipbuilding business.
Funding skilling
Several coastal states in India are now coming out with special policies covering ancillary and skilling support, roads and rail infrastructure, and so on to meet the country’s shipping requirements. States such as Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Gujarat are pitching strongly. Investments in skilling and training are needed to create a future-ready maritime workforce, Nair observes.
The demand for shipping services, according to him, could be generated from the government sector, largely the oil marketing companies, and the steel and fertiliser sector for bulk cargo movement. Such a scenario would augur well for the shipbuilding sector.
“We are expecting more orders from world shipping majors after the French shipping line CMA CGM placed orders with the yard to build six LNG-powered container ships,” Nair says, adding that the Dredging Corporation of India, too, is reported to be keen on placing more orders for dredgers.
New fabrication unit
CSL’s future, he says, looks positive. “We are expecting to more than double the turnover in the next five to six years, to ₹11,000-12,000 crore from ₹5,000 crore at present,” Nair says, pointing to contributing factors such as orders for new ships, government policies, interest shown by global ship-owners in building ships in India. Besides, the new dry dock and the International Ship Repair Facility (ISRF) at CSL will bring in revenues going forward.
The yard is setting up a block fabrication facility in Kochi with an investment of about ₹3,000 crore. It would be able to produce 1,20,000 tonnes of steel blocks — a crucial component in ship construction — ensuring faster availability to speed up the overall shipbuilding process, Nair says.
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Published on November 17, 2025
