Cochin Shipyard, Samsung Heavy Pact for LNG Ship Project
Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with South Koreas second-largest shipbuilder, Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) to team up to bid for the GAIL (India) Ltd tender to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships.
GAIL needs nine LNG carriers to haul natural gas from the US to India beginning December 2017.
With this, Cochin Shipyard becomes the second local yard to secure a technology tie-up for LNG ships from one of the three top shipbuilders in South Korea, the world’s top shipbuilding nation.
According to Express News Service, If Cochin Shipyard-Samsung wins the tender, the consortium is expected to secure orders for three ships, each costs around Rs 1500 crore.
Under the MoU, Samsung Heavy Industries would receive around Rs 2656 crore ($400 million) for collaborating with Cochin Shipyard.
Last year Cochin Shipyard had striken a deal with Samsung Heavy Industries to cooperate in construction of the vessels. It has also been licensed by GTT of France to build LNG carriers with the Mark III membrane containment system.
The tie-ups are the result of hectic lobbying by India to get technology from overseas specialists in the field. India’s foreign minister Sushma Swaraj had lobbied at the diplomatic level with the South Korean government during a visit to Seoul in December 2014 to help inexperienced Indian yards get the technology to build the ships locally, Mint reported.
