NSDRC to import ship designing software

The National Ship Design and Research Centre (NSDRC) will be spending over Rs 1.5 crore on acquiring new ship designing software.

"In the 2006-07 Budget, the government has sanctioned close to Rs 4 crore to NSDRC, of which we will be spending about Rs 1.5 crore on purchasing new ship designing software and hardware," N V Rao, chief operating officer of NSDRC, told Business Standard.

"To meet the growing shipping industry demands, we need latest and updated software and so we intend to upgrade our facilities," he said, adding that the new ship design related software and hardware would be imported from Spain by the end of this financial year.

NSDRC earned revenues of Rs 3.6 crore by providing ship design and related services to both private and public institutions in the financial year ended March 31, 2006. It expects to earn the same revenue figures in the current year too. At present, the centre is providing e-governance solutions to the Director General Shipping. The contract is valued at around Rs 5 crore.

"Apart from this, we are undertaking several works like designing a 500-passenger vessel for A&N Administration, designing a buoy-tender-cum-research vessel for the National Institute of Ocean Technology, preparing a project report for desilting of Sukhan lake (Chandigarh), mouth stabilisation studies for Machilipatnam port etc," Rao said.

NSDRC, a premier ship designing centre in the country, is an autonomous society under the administrative control of the ministry of shipping. The centre has been set up to provide services such as ship design, applied research in hydrodynamics, structures, noise and vibration.

Besides, it advises shipyards and ship owners on manning and improving productivity and quality, operating economy and levels of automation, and assist shipyards/ship owners in carrying out tests and trails of the ship and equipment to establish performance parameters, developing a documentation-cum- data centre and library facility for use by shipping, ship-building and allied industries.