Cochin Shipyard rallies over 4% after unit bags order worth Rs 1,100 crore

Cochin Shipyard stock surges: Shares of shipbuilding company Cochin Shipyard soared as much as 4.40 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 2,310.15 per share on Monday. 

The uptick in stock price came after the company announced that its arm, Udupi Cochin Shipyard Limited (UCSL), has secured an order worth Rs 1,100 crore. UCSL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cochin Shipyard.

In an exchange filing, Cochin Shipyard said, “We would like to inform that Udupi Cochin Shipyard Limited (UCSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of CSL, has entered into contract with Wilson ASA, Norway, for Design and Construction of 4 nos. of 6300 TDW Dry Cargo Vessels. Agreement has also been entered into for additional 4 vessels of the same type which will be formally contracted within September 19, 2024. The overall project of 8 vessels is worth about Rs 1,100 crores and is to be executed within September 2028.”

UCSL, under contract terms, will undertake the design and construction of four 6300 TDW dry cargo vessels, the company said in a statement. 

Additionally, an agreement has been reached for four more vessels of the same type, expected to be formally contracted by September 19, 2024. 

This follows a previous contract awarded in June last year for the design and construction of six 3800 TDW dry cargo vessels, which is currently in advanced stages of construction at the Udupi yard in Karnataka.

Each vessel measures 100 metres in length with a deadweight of 6300 metric tonnes at a design draft of 6.5 metres. They will be designed by Conoship International of the Netherlands and constructed as environmentally friendly diesel-electric vessels for transporting general cargo in European coastal waters, Cochin Shipyard said.

The entire project, comprising eight vessels, is scheduled for completion by September 2028.

Wilson ASA, headquartered in Bergen, Norway, is Europe's leading short sea fleet operator. It moves approximately 15 million tonnes of dry cargo across the continent. Their fleet consists of about 130 vessels ranging from 1500 to 8500 DWT.

Since its acquisition by Cochin Shipyard Limited, UCSL has successfully delivered two 62T Bollard Pull Tugs to Ocean Sparkle Limited and one 70T Bollard Pull Tug to Polestar Maritime Limited. 

These tugs conform to the Approved Standard Tug Design & Specifications (ASTDS) mandated by the Indian government for ports under the AatmaNirbharBharat initiative. 

UCSL has also secured additional orders for four 70T Bollard Pull Tugs, with three from Ocean Sparkle Limited and one from Polestar Maritime Limited, Cochin Shipyard added.

At 9:54 AM, shares of Cochin Shipyard were trading 2.79 per cent higher at Rs 2,274.40 per share. By comparison, BSE Sensex was trading 0.28 per cent higher at 79,252.23 levels.