Colombo Dockyard delivers biggest vessel built in Lanka

Monday, 3 November 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

MV Corals was ceremonially handed over by Colombo Dockyard Plc to Union Territories of Lakshadweep Administration on 28 October at 9:52 a.m. The owner was represented by IPS Director (Ports, Shipping and Aviation)/Managing Director Lakshadweep Development Corporation Rajiv Ranjan Singh. Lakshadweep Development Corporation Marine Superintendent Naveen Kurian was also present at the event.

Colombo Dockyard MD/CEO Ranil Wijegunawardena handing over the 400 passenger cargo vessel to TTL Director – India R.R Singh at Colombo Dockyard Managing Director/CEO Ranil Wijegunawardena, Chairman Dr. Toru Takehara, Director Y. Kijima, Merchant Shipping Director General Ajith Seneviratne, DVD Prasad Rao representing the Indian Register of Shipping, Ajith Wijesinghe representing Lloyds Register of Shipping, Kartik Pande and Dr. M. Sivaguru representing the Indian High Commission also attended the occasion.

This is to date the biggest vessel to be constructed in Sri Lanka with a LOA of 99.00 meters and a beam of 17.00 meters. This vessel has been designed for the transport of passengers and general cargo between the mainland and Lakshadweep Islands and across inter-island routes. Once in operation, the vessel will ease congestion and provide uninterrupted service for passengers and freight from Cochin to the Lakshadweep Islands for a roughly 20-hour journey. The MV Coral’s sister ship, MV Lagoons is presently under construction and will be delivered towards end of 2014. The vessel is designed by world-renowned ship design company, Global Maritime Brevik AS of Norway (formerly known as GL Noble Denton/Brevik Engineering) and the detailed design engineering was performed by Neilsoft Ltd. of India. This cooperation enabled the convergence of specialists in their respective fields to achieve the best design solutions and Colombo Dockyard performed the arduous task of product realisation. The fact that the Indian Government placed its utmost confidence in Colombo Dockyard to build these passenger vessels immediately after the delivery of the a 250-passenger vessel and a 100-ton cargo vessels (MV Arabian Sea and MV Lakshadweep Sea), is a testament to the maturity and status that Colombo Dockyard has achieved in the field of shipbuilding in the region. Apart from passenger shipbuilding, Colombo Dockyard specialises in the construction of offshore support vessels such as Anchor Handling Tug Supply Vessels, Multipurpose Platform Supply Vessels, Platform/ROV Support Vessels and Crew Boats for companies engaged in providing offshore oilfield services in the oil and gas exploration and production domain. For the past five years, Colombo Dockyards has been able to generate over US $ 392 million through shipbuilding activities alone, contracting 16 vessels for international clients. Pix by Shehan Gunasekara.