GSL commences production of 1st indigenous Pollution Control Vessel for ICG

New Delhi: The steel cutting ceremony of the first fully indigenous designed Pollution Control Vessel for the Indian Coast Guard was held on February 22 at Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL), a PSU under the Ministry of Defence. GSL's Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) Bharat Bhushan Nagpal and the senior officials from the ICG and GSL witnessed the commencement of steel cutting of the first steel plate. The steel cutting ceremony is one of the initial milestones in the vessel construction process.

In June 2021, the Ministry of Defence had signed a contract with GSL for the construction of two Pollution Control Vessels (PCVs) for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) at a cost of about Rs 583 crore. These special role ships will be indigenously designed, developed and built by GSL. The commencement of production of Vessel will boost the indigenous shipbuilding capability and will increase employment opportunities in shipbuilding. These vessels are scheduled for delivery by November 2024 and May 2025 respectively.

Currently, ICG has three PCVs in its fleet at Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Porbander to carry out dedicated Pollution Surveillance, Oil spill monitoring and response operations in Indian EEZ and around islands. The new PCVs planned are for pollution response requirements in Eastern and the ecologically sensitive Andaman & Nicobar Regions. The vessels, with the capability of operating helicopter on-board, will have many advanced features with modern PR equipment of niche technology for containing, recovering and dispersing the marine oil spill.

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