Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd has outsourced a part of the Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Watercraft (ASW SWC) and Survey Vessel Large order it won from the Indian Navy in 2019 and 2018 to rival L&T Shipbuilding Ltd as the state-run warship builder comes under pressure to deliver the vessels on time in the face of capacity shortage.
According to the tender issued by the Indian Navy for procuring 16 Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Watercrafts, the lowest bidder (L1) would get 8 ships while the second lowest bidder (L2) would get the remaining 8 ships provided it matched the L1 price.
Cochin Shipyard Ltd, also state-owned, was the lowest bidder on the tender, and was awarded the contract for building 8 ASW SWCs.
The contract for constructing the remaining 8 Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Watercrafts, valued at Rs6,311.32 crores, was awarded to GRSE in April 2019 after it agreed to match the lowest price quoted by Cochin Shipyard Ltd.
The first ship is to be delivered within 42 months from the contract signing date and the balance in batches of two ships a year. The full order is to be executed in 84 months from the date of signing the contract.
The contract for four Survey Vessel Large (SVL), valued at Rs2,435.15 crore, was awarded to GRSE in October 2018, after it emerged the successful bidder in a competitive bidding process.
The first ship was to be delivered within 36 months from the contract signing date and the full order had to be completed within 54 months.
The Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Crafts and Survey Vessels Large are at various stages of construction.
The last of the series of four Survey Vessels Large, named ‘INS Sanshodak’, and the third in the series of eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Watercrafts, christened ‘INS Anjadip’, were launched on 13 June 2023. The keel for the seventh ASW SWC was also laid on the same day.
Speaking at the launch and keel laying ceremony of the ships, Vice Admiral R B Pandit, PVSM, AVSM, Commander-in-Chief, Strategic Forces Command, alluded to the “successful partnership” between GRSE and L&T Shipbuilding.
“The collaboration between the two is a befitting example of a Public-Private partnership which is a desired framework for the indigenous warship construction capabilities. This successful model will be closely watched, and I am sure it would set the path for similar future collaborations in warship construction in our country,” Vice Admiral Pandit said in a statement issued by GRSE on 13 June.
“The ASW Shallow Watercraft project has 8 ships, and the Survey Vessel Large Project has 4 ships. We launched the first SVL on 5 December 2021 and thereafter we have been launching a ship every six months with the last ship being launched today. As far as the ASW Shallow Watercraft project is concerned, we launched the first ship on 20 December 2022, and are churning out a ship every 3 months and we intend maintaining this tempo. I am very confident that the next phase, that is from launch to delivery, is much tougher and together the Indian Navy, GRSE and our partners, shall be able to meet the expectations in terms of delivery and quality,” Cmde P R Hari, Indian Navy (Retd), Chairman and Managing Director, GRSE, said in an official statement issued on 13 June.
GRSE said it was “showing the way” with unique ‘PPP partnerships’ to “leverage the spare capacity of private entities to facilitate concurrent production”.
Such collaboration between a public sector shipyard under the Ministry of Defence and private shipyards have begun yielding results, Cmde Hari, CMD, GRSE, told ET Infra.
“The private firm (L&T Shipbuilding) was identified through a structured commercial process and the strategy was to marry GRSE’s technical competence and years of experience with the operational flexibility of the private player through a subcontract model for part construction of a few ships,” the CMD said without disclosing the price at which the ships were subcontracted to L&T Shipbuilding.
While GRSE is responsible for the design, procurement, production planning and coordination, quality management and related activities, L&T has been undertaking the construction-related jobs.
“L&T Shipbuilding has already completed part construction of two Survey Vessel Large and handed these vessels to GRSE for further outfitting, trials and delivery. Two ASW SWCs have also been launched at the private shipyard,” Cmde Hari continued.
GRSE has also pursued a similar model for the part construction of smaller vessels with Kolkata based Titagarh Wagons Ltd which has a facility on the banks of the Hooghly at Titagarh, North 24-Parganas. GRSE used the spare capacity at this shipyard to undertake part-construction of two ships.
“Our unique PPP model between a leading Defence PSU shipyard and a capable private shipyard has stabilized and in GRSE’s appreciation, such ‘PPP models’ are what the country needs today. This will enable the delivery of quality ships on time to meet customer expectations.” Cmde Hari added.
