Limited expansion by Shipping Corporation

Shipping Corporation of India Ltd (SCI) has announced plans to expand its fleet. The government owned shipping giant has initiated steps to buy second hand five ships, of various types, with an investment of Rs.2,000 crores.

The board of the national carrier has given formal approval to the acquisition of ships by 31 March, which includes a very large gas carrier (VLGC), a medium range tanker (MR Tanker), a container ship of over 9,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) capacity, a platform supply vessel (PSV) and one anchor handling, towing and supply vessel (AHTSV), one of the sources, a government official, said.

Shipping Corporation of India had last expanded its fleet in FY2017 when it acquired four vessels – two platform supply vessels, one VLGC and one Suezmax tanker – all second hand.

The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), the government’s asset sale department, started the process of privatizing Shipping Corporation of India, a few years ago by selling the government’s 63.75 percent stake to a strategic buyer. The sale process is yet to reach a conclusion. Shippers in the country are however clamoring for a national shipping line in the light of exorbitant hike in freight rates by global shipping liners.

SCI is India’s biggest shipping company by fleet size and is the country’s only shipping company that owns very large crude carriers or so-called oil super tankers. It has five VLCC’s on its fleet.