Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd, the Kolkata-based defence public sector undertaking (DPSU), on Tuesday signed a contract with National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Ministry of Earth Sciences, for delivery of an ocean research vessel (ORV) at a cost of ₹840 crore.

The overall length of the ORV will be 89.50-metres and 18.80-metres wide while its depth will be 12.50-metres, the GRSE said in an official statement.

The ship will have a gross tonnage of 5,900 tonnes and a speed of 14 knots at 90 per cent maximum continuous rating (MCR). The research vessel will be able to operate at a maximum depth of 6,000-metres.

The DPSU stated that the vessel, once it is delivered, will be capable of underway swath multibeam as well as geophysical seismic surveys in coastal seas and deep waters. “The ship will also be able to carry out conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) profiling and water sampling operations such as biological sampling using vertical and horizontal methods through various nets,” the GRSE informed.

Given its expertise in the field of survey vessels they have been building for the Indian Navy for nearly four decades, the GRSE is now refitting the Marine Acoustic Research Vessel INS Sagardhwani that was built by the DPSU in 1994.

On December 4, 2023, the GRSE delivered the INS Sandhayak – the largest survey vessel to be built in the country – to the Indian Navy.

“Three more vessels of this class are at various stages of completion at the shipyard at the moment. This experience will stand GRSE good when designing and building the ORV for NCPOR,” the GRSE pointed out.

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