Deendayal Port, Cochin Shipyard to Set Up ₹1,750 Cr Ship-Repair Hub in Gujarat.

Deendayal Port Authority (DPA), which operates Kandla Port, has partnered with Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) to establish a ₹1,750 crore ship-repair hub on India’s western coast in Gujarat.

The project will be developed at Vadinar in Devbhumi Dwarka district, with DPA investing ₹700 crore in an outfitting jetty and civil construction, while CSL will contribute ₹1,050 crore to set up two floating docks. “About 50% of our ₹700 crore investment will be funded under the Sagarmala scheme,” said DPA Chairman Sushil Kumar Singh.

CSL, India’s largest shipbuilding and repair company, will operate the Vadinar facility, paying a fixed lease rent and royalty to DPA. The hub will have the capacity to repair 32 vessels annually. A Detailed Project Report (DPR) has already been submitted to the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways for approval.

India currently has limited ship-repair capacity, with CSL leading at 125,000 Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT), followed by Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (80,000 DWT) and Goa Shipyard Ltd (4,500 DWT). In 2022-23, a total of 439 ships were repaired across the country.

DPA has been operating a steel floating dry dock in Kandla since 1984, which repaired 39 ships in 2022-23. Among India’s 12 major ports, Kolkata’s Syama Prasad Mukherjee Port has the highest number of dry docks (five), while Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Paradip, and Deendayal ports each operate one dry dock.

The new ship-repair hub at Vadinar is expected to strengthen India’s maritime infrastructure and reduce dependence on foreign repair facilities.

HBL