Colombo Dockyard places final touches to MV Lagoons

Monday, 26 January 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Onboard MV Lagoons the second 400 passenger cum 250 ton cargo vessel is a hive of activity these days, as it is being prepared for delivery in the month of February 2015 to its owners, the ‘Union Territories of Lakshadweep Administration’ of the Government of India.

This vessel once it is delivered in February, will join her identical sister vessel MV Corals which was built and delivered by Colombo Dockyard PLC last October 2014. These vessels have been designed for the carriage of passengers and general cargo, between the mainland and Lakshadweep Islands and inter-island routes. Once this vessel gets in to operation, it will further ease the congestion and will provide uninterrupted service for passengers and freight from Cochin to Lakshadweep Islands for a journey which generally takes around 20 hours.

The price of each of these vessels is $ 29,260,000 and the total contract generated a revenue of $ 58,520,000 to the Sri Lankan economy. Since 2007, they have been able to generate over $ 700 million in shipbuilding activities alone, contracting 29 vessels for international clientele. 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 is 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 delivery of the two numbers 250 passenger cum 100 ton cargo vessels (MV Arabian Sea and MV Lakshadweep Sea), is a clear testimony of the maturity and the status that Colombo Dockyard, has achieved in the field of shipbuilding in the region and will further strengthen the long and cordial relationship, the two countries have enjoyed over the past years.

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, crew boats for companies engaged in providing offshore oil field services, in the oil and gas exploration and production domain. With technical expertise in the construction of steel and aluminium hull vessels, complimented by a highly skilled, knowledgeable engineers and technicians (more than 3,000 Sri Lankans are working at the Shipyard) they are capable of offering Japanese quality products and services, at highly competitive prices. They are also known for their capability to fully customise vessels for the client’s requirement and making continuous improvement to the design and performance characteristics, adding value at each and every stage of construction.