SCI continues its robust acquisition program despite having to recast its acquisition plans
Country’s largest shipping company, the State-owned Shipping Corporation of India took delivery of a Supramax bulk carrier m. v. Vishva Bandhan on Friday 16th December, 2011. This is their third vessel out of the six Supramax bulk carriers the company has ordered with STX (Dalian) Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., China, which is part of the world renowned STX Offshore and Shipbuilding group of Korea.
Orders for these vessels were placed in December 2007. The remaining three vessels are scheduled to be received by SCI in a phased manner and the delivery is scheduled to get completed by March 2012.
The SCI ordered these vessels as part of its program to replace its existing fleet of Daewoo series Handymax bulk carriers which were built in 1986/87. With the induction of these new buildings the overall age profile of SCI’s bulk carriers would improve significantly. m. v. Vishva Bandhan has a gross tonnage of 33,185 tonnes and deadweight of 57,196 tonnes. The vessel has been classed with DNV and IRS and has been built to comply with the latest and most stringent international regulations.
Despite the world economy reeling under the recessionary pressure, India has continued on its growth trajectory. Industrial and infrastructural development plays a major role to sustain this growth. As a national carrier, SCI has been aiming to increase its presence in India’s ever increasing dry bulk trade and strengthening its bulk carrier fleet would help SCI contribute to this growth.
With addition of this vessel, SCI’s fleet strength stands at 79 vessels totaling 5.67 million dwt which is nearly half of the country’s total ship tonnage. Acquisition of the vessel is in line with SCI’s strategy of maintaining a modern and young fleet of vessels. The Company has 24 vessels on order at present and 6 of these are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2011-12.
SCI’s robust acquisition plan has continued though it had recently re-shaped its expansion strategy. In October it cancelled plans to buy three new container ships as a result of the downturn.
As for its recent acquisitions, the company had on 15th November 2011 taken delivery of a new building, an Anchor Handling, Towing & Supply (AHTS) vessel “m.v. SCI Pawan” from Cochin Shipyard Limited. The AHTS has a Bollard Pull capacity of 120 tonnes. It is the first of the two AHTS the company has ordered with Cochin Shipyard. SCI expects to receive the second AHTS by the end of this year.
In September 2011 SCI had acquired its first Supramax Bulk carrier m.v. Vishva Nidhi and the second one viz m.v. Vishva Prerna was taken delivery on 1st November, 2011.