Angre Port's Ship Repair Facility to be Ready by 2013

Mumbai: The newly commissioned Angre Port on the Konkan coast is aiming to ready its ship repair yard by mid-2013. 'Our ship repair yard will be ready by June 2013,' the Managing Director of Chowgule Port and Infrastructure (promoters of Angre Port), Mr M.P. Patwardhan, told PTI. The yard, being built at an investment of 430 crore, will be the first such major facility for ship repair on the western coast and will serve as a cheaper and convenient alternative, he said. At present, ships in the region have to go to either Colombo or West Asia to carry out the repairs, which is expensive as well as time-consuming. According to a senior company official, the yard has good revenue potential on par with that of the port itself in the long-term. A lift that can raise a vessel of up to 8,500 tonnes to 14.5 metres above the water level will be employed at the facility to place the vessel ashore, and on to the repair yard, the company said. Yard's features The yard will have a total of six berths of up to 150 metres in length and a minimum of six vessels can be repaired at a time, the company's chief executive, Mr Atul Kulkarni, said. The yard is situated next to the port located on the southern bank of Shastri river. The port has a 350-metre jetty with four berths. Mr Kulkarni said around 500 vessels (under-10,000 tonne capacity), operating on the Indian coast, which have to undergo repairs every 30 months, will be the target clientele. It includes vessels of the government agencies such as Coast Guard and Customs, offshore supply vessels serving the oil rigs, dredgers and other merchant vessels, he said.