<p data-path-to-node="2" style="font-family: "Google Sans Text", sans-serif !important; line-height: 1.15 !important;"><b data-path-to-node="2" data-index-in-node="0" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;">KOCHI —</b> In a major industrial breakthrough reinforcing India’s ascending footprint across international commercial shipbuilding, premier state-owned yard Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) has executed a definitive multi-vessel construction contract with a prominent European–Subcontinent short-sea shipping consortium to construct four next-generation 1,800-TEU methanol-ready container feeder vessels, with options for four additional sister ships.</p><p data-path-to-node="3" style="font-family: "Google Sans Text", sans-serif !important; line-height: 1.15 !important;">The commercial contract, valued at over ₹2,400 crore for the firm vessels, marks the direct commercial realization of CSL’s indigenously engineered shallow-draft container platform. Designed from the keel up to navigate the unique hydrodynamics of peninsular Indian gateways, the Persian Gulf, and shallow-water European river estuaries, the series introduces high-efficiency alternative-fuel propulsion into regional feeder networks.</p><p data-path-to-node="4" style="font-family: "Google Sans Text", sans-serif !important; line-height: 1.15 !important;">Under the technical specifications finalized between CSL and the shipowning consortium, each vessel will measure approximately 172 meters in length overall (LOA) with a beam of 28.4 meters and an operational design draft restrained to under 8.2 meters. This low-draft hydrodynamic hull form allows fully laden operations across tidal-restricted ports and estuarine fairways—including Kolkata Dock System, Deendayal Port (Kandla), and regional Gulf outports—without incurring tidal delays or deadweight cargo intake penalties.</p><p data-path-to-node="5" style="font-family: "Google Sans Text", sans-serif !important; line-height: 1.15 !important;">The vessel architecture incorporates advanced two-stroke dual-fuel main propulsion systems engineered to operate on low-sulfur marine gas oil (LSMGO) and bio-diesel, while being structurally and mechanically pre-fitted with Type-C fuel tanks, specialized stainless-steel fuel bunkering manifolds, and nitrogen-purged supply piping to run seamlessly on green methanol. By integrating methanol-ready dual-fuel engines, the vessels satisfy the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Tier-III nitrogen oxide limits and Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) Phase 3 benchmarks, while ensuring operational compliance with the European Union’s FuelEU Maritime carbon-intensity thresholds.</p><p data-path-to-node="6" style="font-family: "Google Sans Text", sans-serif !important; line-height: 1.15 !important;">Cargo hold configurations are tailored for high-cube consumer goods, heavy industrial equipment, and temperature-controlled exports. Each vessel features reconfigurable container cell guides, dangerous cargo hold segregation under IMDG Class rules, and 350 high-output active refrigerated container (reefer) plugs powered by the ship’s auxiliary electrical grid. The vessels are also factory-fitted with high-voltage shore connection (HVSC) cold-ironing systems, allowing auxiliary generator sets to be completely shut down while berthed at electrified container terminals.</p><p data-path-to-node="7" style="font-family: "Google Sans Text", sans-serif !important; line-height: 1.15 !important;">The order capitalizes on the central government’s expanded Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme (SBFAS), which provides capital support covering up to 25% of baseline construction outlays for green-propulsion and alternative-fuel merchant vessels built at Indian shipyards. Furthermore, global shipowners are increasingly turning to Indian drydocks as commercial yards across East Asia remain constrained by multi-year orderbook backlogs stretching past 2029.</p><p data-path-to-node="8" style="font-family: "Google Sans Text", sans-serif !important; line-height: 1.15 !important;">Technical directors at Cochin Shipyard confirmed that detailed engineering reviews and long-lead machinery procurements are underway, with physical steel-cutting for the lead vessel scheduled to commence at CSL’s Kochi docks by early 2027, targeting commercial vessel deliveries in phased sequences starting late 2028.</p>
Cochin Shipyard Secures Multi-Vessel Order to Build Indigenous Next-Gen Methanol-Ready Feeder Boxships
The commercial contract, valued at over ₹2,400 crore for the firm vessels, marks the direct commercial realization of CSL’s indigenously engineered shallow-draft container platform. Designed from the keel up to navigate the unique hydrodynamics of peninsular Indian gateways, the Persian Gulf, and shallow-water European river estuaries, the series introduces high-efficiency alternative-fuel propulsion into regional feeder networks.
