Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) is striving hard to achieve a turnaround, after it has been brought under the control of the Ministry of Defence, and it is set to deliver three vessels in a month, according to the Chairman and Managing Director, Rear-Admiral N.K Mishra.
At the Republic Day function in HSL here, he said HSL had delivered a 50-tonne BP tug - Delima - to the Visakhapatnam Port Trust on December 30, 2011, and again an inshore patrol vessel - Rani Abbakka - to the Indian Coast Guard on January 5.
New orders
“Our 53,000-DWT bulker for the Chennai-based Good Earth Maritime Ltd (GML) has completed trials and it will be delivered by the end of the month. I think it is history that HSL has been able to deliver three vessels in a month. Ships are also lined up for delivery by March 31,” he said.
He said new orders had been received - two 50-T tugs for the Kandla port, three 25-tonne tugs for the Navy and a fleet support ship for the Union Government.
“Many more orders will come. I am working hard to achieve the goal of Rs 10,000-crore order book position by the end of the next financial year. However, that is only one part. The employees should strive hard to build the vessels on time and stick to the delivery schedules. Then only the image of the shipyard will improve in the market,” he remarked.
Rear-Admiral Mishra said the Union Ministry of Defence had released Rs. 457 crore for renewal and replacement of the equipment and modernisation of the yard.
“This is a golden opportunity the Ministry of Defence has given us and we must grab it with both hands and make the best use of it to turn HSL around,” he exhorted the employees.
He said the endeavour of the 4,000 employees should be to make it a world class shipyard.