Hanwha Ocean and India’s leading shipbuilders will cooperate strategically. On January 13, Hanwha Ocean held its first cooperation meeting with Hindustan Shipyard to address the “2028 order backlog,” according to India’s Economic Times.
Participants in the meeting also included India’s Pipavav Shipyard (formerly Reliance Naval and Engineering Ltd, or RNaval), led by Swan Energy, Cochin Shipyard and L&T Shipyard, the report said.
“India has the world’s largest docks and cranes, as well as the most advanced automation facilities. We will work with Hanwha Ocean to enhance the technical capabilities of India’s shipbuilding industry,” said Sanjay Bansal, Deputy Minister of Shipping, at a press conference in New Delhi on January 16. “Currently, India’s shipbuilding industry accounts for less than 1% of the global market. Our goal is to enter the top 10 shipbuilding countries in the world by 2030 and become one of the top five shipbuilding countries in the world by 2047.”
India’s Economic Times also reported that Hanwha Ocean’s order book is expected to reach saturation by 2028. With the backlog of orders from Chinese and South Korean shipyards, Indian shipyards will gradually become an alternative.
India’s Ministry of Shipping plans to subsidize shipbuilding by March 2034 The subsidy will be 20% for general ships, 25% for specialized ships (oil, natural gas and chemical tankers, container ships) and 30% for environmentally friendly and future technology ships.
In addition, India’s Ministry of Shipping will set up a Rs. 2.5 trillion (about $42.075 billion) Marine Development Fund (MDF). The fund will be mobilized through surplus funds from state-owned ports and investments from non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) for new shipyards and expansion facilities.
The Government of India will set up maritime clusters in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Odisha and provide a subsidy of 40 % of the scrap value in the form of letters of credit at the time of ship dismantling.
According to a January 16 release from the Indian Institute of Shipbuilding (ISS), the global shipping industry will require more than 50,000 environmentally friendly ships over the next 30 years due to increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
Recently, India has announced a series of major initiatives aimed at enhancing India’s shipbuilding capacity and port capacity, with a total investment of over Rs. 570 billion. Two of the major initiatives include an investment of Rs. 3,000 in the construction of a new mega shipbuilding base and an investment of Rs. 2,700 in the development of a new cargo terminal off the Kandla River to increase throughput by 135 MTPA.