These would be greenfield ship building yards with one each in the east and the west coast. The yards would have the capacity to build large container ships and tankers up to a capacity of three lakh tonne, shipping minister T R Baalu said on Friday. Chennai-based Ennore Port Ltd has been made the nodal agency for appointing consultants and identifying investors for the ship building yards at the east coast. Similarly, Mumbai Port Trust has been appointed as nodal agency for the ship yard in west coast, he said.
The shipping minister had visited South Korea to learn about some of the large ship building yards in that country, including one of the world’s largest Hyundai shipyard.
India already has four major ship building yards at Mazagon in Mumbai, Kochi in Kerala, Hindustan Shipyard at Visakhapatnam and Hooghly Dock at Kolkata. There are 28 shipyards in the country, seven under Central public sector, two under state government and nine under private sector. The two new shipyards will require 1,000 acres of land each, and the location will be determined on the basis of availability of land.