India adopts structured tender approach for specialized vessel manufacturing to boost self-reliance

NEW DELHI: With focus on building resilience in the shipping sector, amid the West Asia conflict and increased instances of global supply chain disruptions, govt will adopt a "structured tender" approach for manufacturing specialised vessels, such as gas and oil tankers, and fertiliser carriers. Under this, some vessels in the tender would be built overseas and the remaining will mandatorily be manufactured in India, the shipping ministry said on Thursday. This strategy is intended to facilitate technology transfer and strengthen India's domestic capabilities in the sector. Govt has, so far, aggregated demand for 437 vessels, as it seeks to boost domestic availability and manufacturing of vessels, Mukesh Mangal, additional secretary in the shipping ministry said. He added that while demand of oil and gas PSUs is around 59 vessels, Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has assessed a demand of 216 vessels and Bharat Container Shipping Line (BCSL) arrived at a requirement 51 vessels. The official said there is a target to invite bids for procuring 61 vessels this year and 30 tenders for 34 vessels have been floated. Data showed that oil and gas PSUs have invited bids for 14 vessels, including LPG and crude tankers, out of the target of 26 for this year. Shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal has also urged fertiliser PSUs and major manufacturers to aggregate their demand for domestic production as a part of govt's big push to make India "self-reliant" in this sector. Mangal said that while green tugs and medium-range tankers are being built domestically, for vessels like 'very large gas carriers' and 'very large crude carriers', govt is going for "structured tenders". Giving an example, he said, "Let's say eight such vessels are to be manufactured, then two can be made out of country and six have to be manufactured within India." Such vessels use very specialised technology and manpower.