Vivus Global to invest Rs.15,000 cr in shipbuilding facility
Bangalore: Vivus Global Australia Pty Ltd, an investments and projects company, will invest Rs.15,000
crore to erect a shipbuilding facility along the Konkan coast in
Maharashtra at a time when the shipping industry is recovering from the
worst glut in decades after a boom in ship orders coincided with the
global financial crisis in 2008.
Sydney-based Vivus Global will invest in the shipyard in Ratnagiri district that is to be built by its unit Rajapur Shipyards Pvt. Ltd. The new shipyard has received orders for building 16 ships of different capacities and types worth $1.4 billion, R. Balasubramaniam, managing director of Rajapur Shipyards, said in a telephone interview
In February, Vivus Global had acquired Rajapur Shipyards,
an entity that had all the necessary government permits, including the
key environment and coastal regulation zone (CRZ) clearances, to set up
the shipbuilding facility. The value of the transaction was not
disclosed.
Rajapur Shipyards was founded by Balasubramaniam, a former Indian Navy officer, and Tushar Mehendale, managing director of Pune-based ElectroMech Material Handling Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd.
The project, set to be one of India’s largest
infrastructure projects, will be funded entirely through foreign direct
investments (FDIs) by Vivus Global. The site where the shipyard is
located has a water depth of 16.4 metres, making it the deepest such
facility in the country.
The shipyard, designed to deliver 32 large ocean-going
ships in a year, will be spread across 1,200 acres. The facility is
expected to be ready in 24-28 months.
Vivus Global will also build a township at Rajapur on 450
acres with schools, hospitals, hotels and guest house facilities to
cater to some 5,000 families employed at the yard.
“Rajapur is a virgin territory, barren land. Other than Alphonso mangoes, there is nothing,” Balasubramaniam said.
“Vivus Global has organized the orders for 16 ships that
include oil super tankers, capesize ships, aframax ships, suezmax ships
and chemical carriers,” Balasubramaniam said.
“The identity of the fleet-owner who has ordered the 16
ships cannot be revealed at this point. It’s a single owner for a block
of 16 ships. The shipbuilding contracts were signed last week, along
with eight separate agreements for various infrastructure contracts to
build the yard,” he said.
These eight agreements are with firms such as L&T Ramboll Consulting Engineers Ltd, Inspiration, Kirby Building Systems India Ltd and TJ Naik and Co.
The investment in a new shipyard in India comes at a time
when most of the local shipbuilders are struggling for orders following
the 2008 downturn and are surviving on government-funded naval
contracts.
Vivus Global, promoted by S. Ramesh Saligrama, E. Selvam and Anand Ganeshan,
with interests in mining and international cross-border finance,
leveraged buyouts and equity investments in global companies, is moving
into infrastructure development.
“Instead of financing someone else, they are financing themselves,” Balasubramaniam said.
The project is the first such in India to be implemented
on such a huge scale. “We are executing the project on a so-called
concurrent engineering model wherein the construction of the shipyard
and the ships will be done on parallel tracks. This means, the day the
shipbuilding facility is ready, the first of the ships will be getting
ready for delivery,” Balasubramaniam said.
The Rajapur yard will focus on three major
segments—commercial ships, naval ships and oil drilling rigs capable of
operating in deep waters. “We have hired 600 engineers of all discipline
through campus selection,” he said.
“India is not in the big league of shipbuilding nations.
Our capability is limited to building smaller ships. Our aim is to
reverse that trend. We plan to set up two yards each on the east and
west coasts of the country,” Balasubramaniam added.
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