GRSE to construct four multi-purpose cargo ships for German shipping firm

Defence PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd on Saturday signed an agreement with a Germany-based shipping company for the construction and delivery of four multi-purpose cargo vessels, an official said.

The contract is worth approximately USD 54 million and the order is to be executed in 33 months, GRSE informed the National Stock Exchange and BSE.

GRSE signed the agreement with shipping company Carsten Rehder Schiffsmakler und Reederei GmbH and Co. KG, Germany, for the construction and delivery of four multi-purpose vessels with an option of building another four ships in near future, the GRSE official said in a statement.

The vessels will be 120 metres long and 17 metres wide and can carry 7,500 metric tonnes of cargo each, the GRSE official said.

The vessels will have a single cargo hold each to accommodate bulk, general and project cargoes, with provision for carrying containers on hatch covers, he said, adding that the ships have been specifically designed to carry multiple large windmill blades on deck.

The agreement was signed here by Commodore Shantanu Bose, (retd), director (shipbuilding) for GRSE and Carsten Thomas Rehder, managing director for the German shipping company in the presence of Chairman and Managing Director of GRSE, Commodore P R Hari, (retd).

The Kolkata-based PSU warship maker has been actively pursuing exports in both maritime and commercial vessels and has built and delivered an offshore patrol vessel to Mauritius, a fast patrol vessel to Seychelles and a passenger-cum-cargo ocean-going ferry to the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, the official said.

GRSE is currently in the process of building six patrol boats and a dredger for Bangladesh, he said.