Dockyard builds largest ship

India no threat to Lanka’s ship building - Dockyard CEO:

Harshini Perera

Sri Lanka should not consider India as a threat any longer but an opportunity to earn foreign income to the country. One such instance in the history of ship building

is about to be unravelled by the Colombo Dockyard PLC, as it has constructed the first and the largest passenger vessel on the request of Indian Government, Colombo Dockyard PLC, Managing Director, CEO, Mangala P.B. Yapa told Daily News Business.

‘The Arabian Sea’ will be the first and the largest sea going passenger vessel constructed in Sri Lanka for the international market that can carry 250 passengers cum 100 tons of cargo capacity.

It will be handed over to the Central Government of India early this year.

The vessel has a contract value of Rs. 2,023 million. The vessel will float from India to Lakshadveep which is an union territory belonging to India.

‘Arabian Sea’ will be the first among the two ships that was undertaken by the CDPLC for construction, he said.

The CDPLC has been able to complete the construction before on the due date of January 2, 2010. The CDPLC has been able to complete the target period.

It was the first passenger vessel and the most complexed vessel constructed by CDPLC.

Lakshadveep has a population of 70,000 and it is world’s pristine tourists’ destination. Since the CDPLC caters to the infrastructure facilities required by the Central Government of India, it has assured the highest safety measures required by the owners. The vessel consisted with different classes while the accommodation facilities and comforts are assured to the requirements of the passengers, he said.

He said that the preliminary design of the vessel is completed by Larsen and Toubro Limited., whereas the integration and construction was completed by the CDPLC.

“During the process of the vessel building we have complied with the standard requirement by the Indian Register of Shipping as well as the Lloyd Register of Shipping.

Therefore, the vessel is built for the requirement of the owner as well as the international requirements.

Apart from that, it meets the requirement of the Government of India especially the Safety of the Life at Sea (SOLAS) and International Maritime Organization (IMO) requirements adhered by India,” he said.

The second ship underconstruction at the CDPLC dry dock will be completed in May for the transport facilities in the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India.

He said that this will tie the relationship between the two countries and Sri Lanka can be the foreign exchange earner. It has explicitly highlighted the quality of workmanship, construction and competitiveness of the CDPLC among the other dockyards in the region, he said.

“This assignment was passed on to us by a tender with special requirements of India such as the passenger capacity, speed and cargo capacity. The Arabian Sea has the SOLAS requirements qualified to sail all over the world,” CDPLC, Assistant Projects and Engineering Manager (Design), Lal Hettiarachchi told Daily News Business.

“We had to comply with the stringent requirements because it carries passengers who are not familiar with the sea. The owners according to the required standards did the final inspection. The level of redundancy is high and has many alternative options since many of the passengers are not accustomed to sea fairing,” CDPLC, Special Projects Manager, Shantha Ratnayake told Daily News Business.