Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd, abbreviated as GRSE, is one of India's leading shipyards, located in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. It builds and repairs

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

and naval vessels. GRSE also builds export ships. Founded in 1884 as a small privately-owned company on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, it was renamed as ''Garden Reach Workshop'' in 1916. The company was nationalised by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

in 1960. It was awarded the Miniratna status, with accompanying financial and operational autonomy in September 2006. It is first Indian shipyard to build 100 warships.

Facilities

GRSE has ship building facilities in Kolkata and Ranchi. It has a large Computer Aided Design (CAD) centre for ship modelling and design. There are four workshops for plate preparation and steel fabrication. GRSE has a dry dock for ships up to . It has a building berth and two slipways for hull construction. It has a covered all-weather non-tidal wet basin for fitting-out medium and small ships and another fitting-out complex for ships with three berths alongside. In addition, it has two river jetties for berthing smaller vessels up to in length. GRSE has engine repair and overhaul facilities in Ranchi. GRSE Ranchi diesel engine plant (licensed engines) On 1 July 2006, GRSE acquired the loss-making Rajabagan Dockyard (RBD) of Central Inland Water Transport Corporation (CIWTC). RBD's facilities with its waterfront helped alleviate some of GRSE's space constraints and increase its production capacity. As of 2011, the shipyard is undergoing a upgrade programme, expected to be completed by March 2012. The second phase of the upgrade programme began in June 2013.

Vessels built

Commercial vessels

Among commercial and scientific ships, GRSE builds

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

and hydrographic research vessels, marine acoustic research ships, non-propelled

dredger Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

s, grab hopper dredgers, trailing suction hopper dredgers, tugboats, and

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, eco ...

Naval vessels

GRSE has designed and built a number of warships and patrol vessels for the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...

and the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

. Vessels built at GRSE include guided-missile frigates, corvettes, fleet tankers, fast patrol vessels, amphibious warfare vessels and hovercraft. GRSE has built the , s, two and s. It constructed all the patrol vessels of the , , , and es. Among the amphibious warfare vessels, it has built are the and es. In September 2011, it was awarded a ₹2,176 crore contract for building eight

landing craft utility A Landing Craft Utility (LCU) is a type of boat used by amphibious forces to transport equipment and troops to the shore. They are capable of transporting tracked or wheeled vehicles and troops from amphibious assault ships to beachheads or piers ...

vessels. It has been awarded a contract to build four s. On 18 February 2015, the Indian government approved the construction of seven s, three of which will be constructed by Garden Reach Shipbuilding.

Exports

GRSE delivered the corvette to Mauritius on 20 December 2014. The contract was worth $58.5 million. With this, India will join the elite club of warship exporters. The Mauritius offshore patrol vessel has an integrated bridge system and cutting edge controls and main engines and can support 83 member crew. It measures in length and in breadth and will be capable of moving at a maximum speed of with an approximate displacement of 1,350 tonnes. GRSE has been short-listed for a patrol boat project for

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

worth and is also bidding for an order of two frigates for

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. GRSE was the lowest bidder to supply two light frigates to

and hopes to receive the contract worth more than $321 million in the next two months. A total of four firms joined the bidding for the Philippine Navy project: GRSE; Hyundai Heavy Industries Inc. and

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd ( ko, 대우조선해양; abbreviated DSME) is one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea, along with Hyundai and Samsung. History On 21 February 2011, the A. P. Moller-Maersk Group (M ...

Co. Ltd., both from

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

; and

Navantia Navantia is a Spanish state-owned shipbuilding company, which offers its services to both military and civil sectors. It is the fifth-largest shipbuilder in Europe and the ninth-largest in the world with shipyards around the globe. The heir to t ...

S.A. of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. GRSE's light frigate will be a design based on the

's Kamorta-class anti-submarine corvette and will be capable of withstanding Sea State 7, which means it can withstand a wave height of up to 9 metres.

References