Garden Reach Shipbuilders bag export order for commercial vessels worth $54 million

Garden Reach Shipbuilders Secures $54 Million Order for Multi-Purpose Vessels

Defence PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) signed an agreement on June 22 with German firm Carsten Rehder Schiffsmakler and Reederei GmbH & Co KG for the construction and delivery of four multi-purpose vessels, each with a capacity of 7,500 DWT. The contract, valued at $54 million, includes an option to build an additional four ships in the future.

Under the terms of the agreement, GRSE will design, build, and deliver the vessels within a timeframe of 33 months. The vessels will be 120 meters long and 17 meters wide, with a maximum draft of 6.75 meters, capable of carrying 7,500 metric tonnes of cargo. Each ship will feature a single cargo hold to accommodate bulk, general, and project cargoes, with containers carried on hatch covers. The ships are specifically designed to transport multiple large windmill blades on deck.

According to an exchange filing by GRSE, "The agreement was signed between GRSE and M/s Carsten Rehder Schiffsmakler and Reederei GmbH & Co, represented by Cdr Shantanu Bose, Director (Shipbuilding), and Carsten Thomas Rehder, Managing Director, respectively, in the presence of Cmde PR Hari, IN (Retd), Chairman & Managing Director, GRSE."

"Among the senior officials present were RK Dash, Director (Finance), GRSE, DIG Subrato Ghosh, ICG (Retd), Director (Personnel), GRSE, and Jonas Meinhardt, Managing Director of M/s Carsten Rehder," the filing added.

On Friday, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd share price closed at Rs 1,649.00, down Rs 112.20 (6.37 percent).

GRSE reported a 48 percent increase in net profit to Rs 49.69 crore during the quarter ended March 2020, despite a decline in income during the period. The warship maker had reported a net profit of Rs 33.62 crore in the corresponding period of 2018-19. Total income decreased by 5.51 percent to Rs 509.48 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 539.17 crore in the year-ago period.

In 2014, GRSE manufactured the CGS Barracuda, an offshore patrol vessel exported to Mauritius, marking the first warship exported by India. In 2021, the GRSE-built fast patrol vessel PS Zoroaster was exported to the Seychelles and returned to GRSE earlier this year for a refit completed in record time.

The shipyard is also currently working on six patrol boats and a TSH dredger for the Government of Bangladesh. In 2023, GRSE delivered the MV Ma Lisha, a passenger-cum-cargo ocean-going ferry to the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, which is now the largest and most advanced ferry in that country.