Indian shipbuilding industries will have a huge market for commercial vessels from Europe, France, Greece and the Middle East countries in the next five years, according to Ajitkumar Daggaonkar, Chief Manager of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. (MDSL), a PSU under the Ministry of Defence, Mumbai.
There are 52 major shipbuilding industries in the country, including both public and private units.
MDSL put up a stall at MILAN Technical Exposition besides MILAN Village as part of the Indian Navy’s international maritime exercise, MILAN-2024, that was inaugurated at the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) base here on Wednesday.
“The demand for commercial vessels, which has been sluggish for the past few years due to various reasons, including COVID-19, is now on the rise,” Mr. Ajitkumar told The Hindu.
The prime reasons for the turnaround were the conversion of diesel ships into green fuel vessels and the growing value for the ‘Make in India’ brand, he said, and added that the Indian shipbuilding industries were tapping the world’s requirements.
“Currently, the country accounts for about 20% of the market demand for commercial vessels worldwide,” said Mr. Ajitkumar.
He said that MDSL had an order from Denmark for three commercial vessels worth ₹350 crore. “Only 28 of the 802 vessels built by us since 1960 are Defence-related, and the remaining are commercial ships,” he said.
It is learnt that the size of the global shipbuilding market is poised to grow from the current USD 150 billion to USD 180 billion by 2030.
