Bharati, Apeejay to build shipyard along east coast

New Delhi, Oct 16 (UNI) Bharati Shipyard Ltd and Apeejay Shipping Ltd today said they will set up a modern shipbuilding yard along the eastern coast in an equal joint venture.

However, the company did not disclosed the financial details of the deal.

The proposed shipyard, expected to start operations in 2009, would build superior ships of high tonnage and also cater to the ship repairing business of existing shipping firms globally, Bharati said in a statement.

Indian ship building industry is expected to expand to 20 billion dollars by 2020, a report by i-maritime consultancy Pvt Ltd said.

Bharati Shipyard, which has orders worth Rs 4,430 crore owns three shipyards in India and is building the fourth one in Mangalore. Its group subsidiary, Pinky Shipyard, owns one yard in Goa.

''We expect growing demand and our new shipyard along the east coast is expected to partly fulfill this requirement,'' Bharati Shipyard Managing Director V Kumar said.

The company and Apeejay would jointly invest in the state of the art technology and modern ship building and ship repair facilities and would have the capacity to build and repair vessels of all sizes up to VLCC.

Earlier this year, Bharati Shipyard, bought assets of 130-year old Swan Hunter (Tyneside) Shipyard Ltd from England.

UNI