Genesis: Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), India’s leading shipbuilding company has indeed achieved many a milestone since River Steam Navigation Company (RSNC), set up a “workshop” on the banks of the river Hooghly in 1884 to facilitate trade between Calcutta and the settlements situated on the banks of Hooghly, Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers. GRSE made its mark in carrying out construction, conversion and repair of over 4,000 Naval and Merchant Vessels during the World War II (1939-45). It became a state owned Defence Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) on April 19, 1960 and over the years has made rapid strides and achieved many firsts to its credit building state of the art warships for the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard & friendly foreign countries.
GRSE is a PCMM Level-2 Certified Company. Over the years it has built 788 platforms including 107 warships for the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, and Governments of Mauritius and Seychelles – which is the highest number of warships built and delivered by any Indian shipyard till date. GRSE’s shipbuilding expertise range from building a 5 ton Boat to a 24600 ton Fleet Tanker, thus displaying the range of warships that the shipyard has successfully delivered till date.
Among the many firsts to its credit, the shipyard built the first indigenous warship of independent India for Indian Navy, INS Ajay in 1961. It constructed the first Patrol Vessel for Indian Coast Guard, CGS Rajhans in 1980, and the only indigenous fleet tanker built in India, INS Aditya. The first Warship exported by India, OPV CGS Barracuda was delivered by GRSE to Mauritius in 2014. Kamorta Class ASW Corvettes, the first warships built in the country with indigenous DMR steel and over 90% indigenous content were delivered by GRSE. The 3rd & the 4th ships of this Class had the unique feature of carbon composite superstructure integrated with Steel Hull of Ship, again a first time achievement by any shipyard in the country.
Infrastructure in line with the best in the world
Using its modernized infrastructure to undertake integrated shipbuilding, using advanced modular construction technology, GRSE has the capability to construct large ships in reduced timeframe. With modernization across the three ship production locations, GRSE is today in a position to construct 20 ships concurrently.
In-house Design Capabilities
GRSE’s in-house design capability remain its major area of strength with the multi-disciplinary 100-plus design team working towards developing various concept designs for current and future warship projects aided by state-of-the-art Virtual Reality Lab. Offshore Patrol Vessel, Landing Craft Utilities, Survey Vessels (Large) and ASW Shallow Water Crafts are some of the ships designed by the in-house team of GRSE. A state of the art Virtual Reality Lab aids the Design Team in its activities. The company’s Design and R&D Department has received recognition from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology, for its performance.
Ongoing Projects
At present GRSE is constructing 24 ships across seven prestigious projects including ships for the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, Govt. of West Bengal, Government of Guyana & Bangladesh, having exported two warships already to Mauritius and Seychelles. The orders include construction of three Advanced Frigates of the P17A.
Green Footprint
Taking a revolutionary step towards reducing the Carbon emission in the water transport sector, GRSE signed the contract with the Government of West Bengal for design and construction of Next Generation Electric Ferry. This ‘Green’ vessel has the potential to replace the conventional diesel engine driven ferries operating in the Hooghly River currently.
Digital Initiatives
To maintain its competitive edge, the company is shifting to smart manufacturing (Industry 4.0), through thrust on innovations in automation, robotics and the industrial Internet of Things (IoT). It has also introduced Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Interoperability and secured connectivity enabling real time monitoring of the construction process. This control and optimisation of processes, resources and systems is expected to help in workload consolidation across design, production and supply chain management, significantly in the future. In its journey towards digitisation in strengthening the operation and shipbuilding efficiency, GRSE in collaboration with IIT Kharagpur has developed an AI Enabled Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) mechanism, which aims to replace manual inspection with automated inspection by using Industry 4.0 techniques. Adopting the latest technology with respect to security of infrastructure and other assets, GRSE has established an Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled high-end CCTV network across its five units in Kolkata apart from other initiatives such as a Document Management System (DMS) for adopting paperless work.
Connecting Difficult Terrains
GRSE as a diversified organization is also engaged in manufacture of prefabricated steel bridges, engine overhaul, assembly, testing and production of deck machinery items. Though the core competency of GRSE has been shipbuilding, it has supplied more than 5,500 Portable Steel Bridges to the Indian Army, Border Road Organisation, State PWDs etc. These bridges have also been exported to Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Three new innovative products designed by GRSE namely the 01 MW Diesel Alternator, Double Lane Modular Steel Bridge with 7.5m carriage width & New SERC certified 5.3m carriage width Single Lane Modular Steel Bridges were launched at the DefExpo 22. GRSE is the only shipyard to receive Green Channel Certification for supply of Bailey Type Portable Steel Bridges.
Financials
For the past 29 years, GRSE has been a profit making and dividend paying company. It is the first Defence Shipyard to get listed with the stock exchanges, across the country. With a healthy order book and upward trend reflecting in its VOP, the shipyard is on a growth path.
CSR Initiative
GRSE is engaged in Corporate Social Responsibility projects ensuring execution of social and sustainable development projects in and around Garden Reach area of Kolkata. In rebuilding the economy and in light of the COVID-19 crisis, GRSE contributed to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM-CARES) Fund. The shipyard installed Medical Oxygen Generator Plants across three hospitals in Kolkata apart from donating ambulances, handing over 50 Medical Oxygen Cylinders to the District Administration and distributing relief material during the Covid-19.
Recognition
The only Defence PSU Shipyard to receive the Raksha Mantri Anveshan Ratn Award for 2022 and bagging other prestigious Awards for R&D, Digital Transformation, CSR, HR Practices, Corporate Communication and many more, in the recent past, demonstrates the commitment and dedication of the Shipyard’s Top Management & the workforce.
