The prostects of dredging and indigenization of dredger design

Abstract

The scope for dredging in India is potentially vast, looking at the prospects of development and maintenance of existing major ports, building new ports, o_shore resources exploration, demand from navy and more interestingly the projects envisaged for national waterways. The capital dredging demand during 2012-2017 is about 639 million m3 and that of maintenance dredging during the same period is about 521 million m3. This requires the employment of substantial number of dredgers of varying capacities. The minor sector dredging demand of about 100 million m3, during the said period, oers additional opportunity for dredging. The modal shift of cargo to inland and coastal waterways o_ers bright prospects for a sustainable economic prosperity. The government encouragement for \Make in India" has brought in a lot of economic interest as well. This is an excellent period to target for indigenization of dredger manufacture. Locally manufactured dredgers not only reduce costs of dredging but also encourage business climate. Further, it will enable India to produce globally competitive world class dredgers. The present paper is written in this context of presenting our study encompassing the scope for dredging activity, identifying suitable types and capacities of dredgers for employment in India. The paper also touches upon the present shipbuilding infrastructure, dredger equipment manufacturers and a road map for indigenization. The paper concludes with forecasting future dredging demands, scope for native dredgers manufacture, identifying a particular target range for indigenization.