The first in the series expected in December
The first in the series of three world-class dredgers, now under construction in the Netherlands, will join the fleet of the Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) – the leader in dredging operations in India – in December.
Three dredgers, each costing around Rs.500 crore, are in various stages of construction in the Netherlands. Each of the trailer suction hopper dredgers is having a capacity of 5,500 cubic meters.
As per the roadmap finalised by the DCI, other two dredgers would join its fleet in July 2013 and February 2014. “We will buy two trailer suction hopper dredgers with 9,000 cubic-metre capacity so as to increase our share in maintenance dredging from 50 to 80 per cent,” DCI Chairman-cum-Managing Director Capt. D.K. Mohanty told The Hindu .
The DCI at present has 14 dredgers of various capacities. Ageing fleet has remained a drawback for the DCI, the Visakhapatnam-headquartered mini ratna public sector company. It is facing a lot of competition after the government opened floodgates to private and foreign dredging companies.
To continue its supremacy, the DCI is now getting ready to augment its fleet and decommission the aged dredgers. Wherever possible, it wants to go for retrofitting of old dredgers and put them into service on various works.
The DCI, which was set up in 1976, undertakes various assignments for capital dredging or creation of Greenfield harbours and maintenance dredging -- deepening of existing ports to increase the draft for better navigation at various ports all along the 5,700-km coastline in the country. At the recently held annual general meeting of the company, the DCI’s turnover was put at Rs.504 crore for 2011-12 compared to Rs.522 crore the previous year. It includes operational income of Rs.492 crore as against Rs.507 crore the previous year. The profit before tax was Rs.17 crore compared to Rs.45 crore the previous year. The net profit after tax for the year was Rs.13 crore, which fell down from previous year’s Rs.40 crore. This was attributed to ageing dredgers. The management hopes that with the refurbishing of the fleet, the company would give a tough fight to its rivals and make a big mark in the dredging market.
The second dredger is expected to join the DCI fleet in July 2013 and the third in February 2014 Fall in DCI project attributed to ageing dredgers
