Kolkata : In a remarkable development that highlights its continuing efforts towards handling export orders, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd signed an agreement with Carsten Rehder Schiffsmakler and Reederei GmbH & Co. KG Germany on Saturday, for the construction and delivery of four multi-purpose vessels of 7,500 DWT each, with an option of building another four (04) ships in near future.
The vessels will be 120 metres long and 17 metres wide with a maximum draft of 6.75 metres. Each of them can carry 7,500 metric tonnes of cargo. The vessels will have a single cargo hold each to accommodate bulk, general and project cargoes. Containers will be carried on hatch covers. The ships have been specifically designed to carry multiple large windmill blades on deck.
The agreement was signed between GRSE and Carsten Rehder Schiffsmakler and Reederei GmbH & Co., represented by Cdr Shantanu Bose, IN (Retd), Director (Shipbuilding) and Carsten Thomas Rehder, Managing Director respectively in the august presence of Cmde PR Hari, IN (Retd.), Chairman & Managing Director, GRSE. Among the senior officials, RK Dash, Director (Finance), GRSE, DIG Subrato Ghosh, ICG (Retd), Director (Personnel), GRSE, Jonas Meinhardt, Managing Director of M/s Carsten Rehder were present.
GRSE has been a pioneer in the export of warships. In 2014, the CGS Barracuda, an Offshore Patrol Vessel, built by GRSE, was exported to Mauritius. This was the first warship to be exported by India. In 2021, the GRSE-built Fast Patrol Vessel PS Zoroaster was exported to the Seychelles. The ship returned to GRSE earlier this year for a refit that was completed in record time.
The shipyard is also currently working on six patrol boats and a TSH dredger for the Government of Bangladesh. In 2023, GRSE delivered the MV Ma Lisha, a passenger-cum-cargo ocean-going ferry to the Cooperative Republic of Guyana. It is the largest and most advanced ferry in that country now.
