Pipavav Shipyard: An architectural marvel

Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company is a testimony to the vision and active participation of the private sector in India’s quest to become a major player in the global maritime defence industry, with a special focus on the defence and offshore sectors.

Strategically located on the western coast of India in the Arabian Sea, Pipavav Defence is India’s largest shipyard. It has one of the largest dry docks in the world, 662 m X 65 m. The dry dock is serviced by two Goliath cranes with a span of 150 m and a hook height of 75 m, these together have a combined capacity of 1200 T. Fitted with a 688 m quay, the shipyard is the only one in India which can accommodate vessels ranging from OPVs to corvettes, LPDs, frigates, destroyers, submarines and even aircraft carriers. Pipavav Defence has recently built and commissioned the largest vessel ever built in India till now, a 75,000 T commercial carrier, in record time. The shipyard’s second dry dock is under construction and once completed, it will be the largest dry dock in the world, with dimensions of 740 m X 90 m.

The facility has over two million square feet of covered workshop space, which includes technologically advanced machinery, for manufacture, fabrication and assembly of blocks. This makes it the only modular shipyard in the country, thereby enabling many processes to happen simultaneously, and therefore, saving time.

It is these salient features that have enabled Pipavav Defence to be the first private shipyard in the country to be given a licence to manufacture warships by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Subsequently, Pipavav Defence has secured an order to build five NOPVs for the Indian Navy. In the last two years, the company has also moved from being naval-centric towards becoming India’s first integrated defence company. Some of the largest corporations in the defence sector globally have chosen Pipavav as their partner of choice. With the passage of time, things can only get bigger and better, not just for the company, but the country at large.