Bharati Shipyard plans to build bigger ships
Bharati Shipyard, now under construction at Mangalore, proposed to create facility for building ships upto one lakh tonnes capacity instead of the original plan for fabricating upto 60,000 tonnes capacity ships.
"We have asked our consultants to do the feasibility study whether it is possible to build 1 lakh DWT (deadweight tonne) of ships there," Bharati Shipyard Managing Director PC Kapoor told media.
The company had raised Rs 450 crore through FCCBs for the shipyard. If its consultants say it is possible to build a bigger shipyard, then its investments would go up by 40 per cent. The proposed shipbuilding yard is in an SEZ in which Karnataka government is also a partner. The yard is being built in 90 acres of land.
As per the plan, the shipyard is expected to be ready by the middle of 2009. However the production would begin by 2008, Kapoor said.
Having a shipyard in a SEZ is beneficial to the company in many ways. First the input that are being bought in are not taxed. Second for the first five years, the company would get a tax holiday. In the next five years only 50 per cent of the income is taxable, he said.
Bharati would bring in the plants and machinery of UK-based Swan Hunter, which it acquired recently for an undiclosed amount. The assets of Swan Hunter is being moved to India and the majority of them would go to the Managalore shipbuilding yard of Bharati.
"We expect at least two years to integrate Swan Hunter into our businesses," Kapoor said. Swan Hunter officials decided to sell the plant because of the high cost of labour in the UK, Kapoor said. Giving an idea about the cost of labour in UK, Kapoor said Bharati is paying lots of money to foreign workers to help it to dismantle the equipment of Swan Hunter to bring it to India.
"We are paying between 25-27 pounds per hour for a lower grade worker. Whereas in India, the same worker would get 6 pounds for eight hours," he said. The Bharati officials also know that their proposal to increase the capacity at Mangalore may run into difficulty.
"We have asked our consultants to do the feasibility study whether it is possible to build 1 lakh DWT (deadweight tonne) of ships there," Bharati Shipyard Managing Director PC Kapoor told media.
The company had raised Rs 450 crore through FCCBs for the shipyard. If its consultants say it is possible to build a bigger shipyard, then its investments would go up by 40 per cent. The proposed shipbuilding yard is in an SEZ in which Karnataka government is also a partner. The yard is being built in 90 acres of land.
As per the plan, the shipyard is expected to be ready by the middle of 2009. However the production would begin by 2008, Kapoor said.
Having a shipyard in a SEZ is beneficial to the company in many ways. First the input that are being bought in are not taxed. Second for the first five years, the company would get a tax holiday. In the next five years only 50 per cent of the income is taxable, he said.
Bharati would bring in the plants and machinery of UK-based Swan Hunter, which it acquired recently for an undiclosed amount. The assets of Swan Hunter is being moved to India and the majority of them would go to the Managalore shipbuilding yard of Bharati.
"We expect at least two years to integrate Swan Hunter into our businesses," Kapoor said. Swan Hunter officials decided to sell the plant because of the high cost of labour in the UK, Kapoor said. Giving an idea about the cost of labour in UK, Kapoor said Bharati is paying lots of money to foreign workers to help it to dismantle the equipment of Swan Hunter to bring it to India.
"We are paying between 25-27 pounds per hour for a lower grade worker. Whereas in India, the same worker would get 6 pounds for eight hours," he said. The Bharati officials also know that their proposal to increase the capacity at Mangalore may run into difficulty.