Hindustan Shipyard posts profit 4th yr in a row, delivers Rs 68 cr in FY19

State-run Hindustan Shipyard Limited has achieved an operating profit of Rs 68.08 crore and profit after tax of Rs 36.23 crore during fiscal 2018-19, Chairman and Managing Director and Rear-Admiral (Retd) L.V. Sarat Babu said on Saturday.

This is the fourth consecutive year it is achieving profit, he told the media.

During 2018-19 all three business segments shipbuilding, ship repair and submarine refit have contributed towards achieving a production value of Rs.595 crore.

The shipyard has also taken steps for the wage revision for officers and workmen with effect from 2018 and the proposals had alreadybeen sent to the defence ministry and it is expected to get approval in due course, he said.

The shipyard had also paid wage arrears for the retired employees pending in 2009-10 wage revision with the profit earned by the management.

On the ship building front, he said the yard has delivered seven vessels which includes one inshore patrol vessel to the Indian Coast Guard, one 50 tonne BP tug to Deendayal Port Trust, three 10 ton BP tugs to the Indian navy and two pontoons to the naval dockyard here.

Other projects on hand such as the support vessel for the navy and balance three ten ton BP tugs are in advanced stage of construction, he said.

On the ship repair front, he said the shipyard has undertaken repair of 12 vessels of different types for the navy, Dredging Corp of India (DCI), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) and Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT).

The shipyard has also been aggressively participating in various repair tenders issued by the navy, coast guard, DCI and SCI.

According to him, HSL has emerged as the lowest bidder in the competitive tendering process for four tenders where it participated during the last two years. These contracts have been secured amid stiff competition from public sector shipyards and private shipyards.

Sarat Babu said the shipyard has been nominated for construction of five fleet support ships at a cost of about Rs.9,045 crore.

M/s Anadolu shipyard,(ADIK) Istanbul, Turkey has been finalised as the design collaborator for the FSS project against global tenderfloated by the shipyard in October 2018.

Signing of contract with ADIK is expected to be completed in current financial year 2019-20 and thereafter the yard would submit its commercial bid to the Indian navy, he said.

During 2018-19,HSL signed two major shipbuilding contracts with Indian navy for two divingsupport vessels and four 50 ton BP tugs worth Rs.2390 crore and Rs 260 crore respectively.

HSL also signed contracts for construction of three 'flag gates' at a cost of Rs.20 crore with naval dockyard, Visakhapatnam, he said, adding the company's order book position increased to Rs.2689 crore as on March 31 2019.