ABG Shipyard to Expand Capacity
India’s ABG Shipyard Ltd plans to invest to expand capacity to meet the rising global demand for building large cargo carrying ships. After the expansion, the company hopes to build large size ships, including very large crude carriers (VLCCs) at its shipyard located at Magdalla Port in Surat, Gujarat, said Rishi Agarwal, managing director of ABG. A VLCC can typically carry as much as 320,000 tonnes of crude oil.ABG is currently building its second shipyard across 40 acres at Dahej in Gujarat at a cost of Rs950 crore. The first phase of the project will give the company facilities the ability to build eight ships simultaneously, with each ship having a capacity of 120,000 tonnes. These ships will meet growing demand in the dry bulk (cargo) segment. The company expects to complete this phase of the project by April. The second phase will give the company to build jack-up rigs used in deep-water oil drilling operations. The company expects to start constructing rigs in December 2008 and will be able to build four rigs at a time. (Source: www.livemint.com)