Kattupalli a Minor Indian Port to become a Major Shipbuilding Hub

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India’s leading Engineering, Construction and Technology company, Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) is having a ship building facility at Hazira, Gujarat. Because of the limitations of Hazira facility, L & T is setting up a shipyard at Kattupalli, north of Chennai in Tamilnadu to tap growing domestic and global demand for ships. Kattupalli is one of the 15 minor ports in Tamil Nadu. The port facility at Kattupalli would handle clean cargo and also cater to the needs of the nearby special economic zone being developed by the state-owned Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (Tidco). Clean cargo means cargo that are pollution free such as foodgrains, automobiles and other finished products.

Some important features of Kattupalli port facility are:

has an investment of around Rs 3,000 crore.
to be set up in a vast area of 1,500 acres.
to build cargo ships, warships and offshore oil rigs.
would have the capability to build very large crude carriers (VLCCs) with a capacity of 3 to 3.5 lakh dwt.
would have the capability to build 25 big ships in a year and repair another 50-60 ships.
to employ approximately 10,000 people, when the shipyard and port commences operations.
the yard is expected to be operational in 2009.

Here are the maps showing Chennai and Kattupalli.

Image Source: tnmaps

Now L & T with their experience in heavy engineering, is further planning to manufacture engines for ships and engineering components for the ships. This is a step towards to develop Kattupalli, a minor port to a major ship building hub.

Update: April 16

Construction is set to start by the end of 2008, and the project is expected to be completed in 24 months. More information is here at marinelog.

Update: May 06

L & T plans to build cruise ships at Kattupalli facility. Read more from livemint.