Indian shipbuilder Swan Defence and Heavy Industries (SDHI) announced that it has secured a renewal order to complete the construction of five vessels ordered in 2009 that have been idle for nearly 10 years due to operational disruptions.
According to information announced on its official website, SDHI has sold five abandoned platform supply vessels (PSVs) to offshore vessel owner San Maritime India. The company acquired the vessels on an “as is” basis and has now signed a renewal contract with SDHI.
The hulls for the five offshore engineering vessels are currently at SDHI’s shipyard in Pipavav and will be built to Indian Register of Shipping (IR) standards. They will then serve the needs of the offshore engineering market. SDHI emphasized that construction of these new vessels began under the previous management, and this continuation demonstrates the operational and decision-making capabilities of the new leadership.
It is understood that SDHI was formerly Reliance Naval Engineering Ltd. (RNEL), which operated the Pipavav shipyard. The shipyard entered into proceedings in the National Corporations Tribunal (NCLT) of India in 2020 and was won by SDHI in 2024. In the approximately 18 months that SDHI took over, the shipyard successfully extricated itself from NCLT supervision and paid off all its previous debts.
The five offshore vessels to be completed are part of a series of orders for a batch of offshore vessels undertaken during the RNEL period. The shipowner is India’s National Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. The order consists of 12 vessels, each with a deadweight tonnage of 2,500 tons, and the total contract value is approximately US$112 million.
The new vessels were originally scheduled for delivery by the end of 2011, with the first seven completed and delivered before RNEL ran into financial difficulties. The subsequent five vessels were delayed due to the shipyard’s operational disruptions, and construction ceased entirely in 2017, after which the shipyard declared bankruptcy.
It is worth noting that the aforementioned offshore vessel project is the second “restart” project recently announced by SDHI.
According to Indian media reports, SDHI has secured a defense contract from the Omani government. This contract is also part of a effort to “clear up historical issues.” Previously, the operator had received an order from the Indian Coast Guard for a training ship, which was partially completed before the company went bankrupt. SDHI plans to complete the construction of this training ship within 18 months and deliver it to the Royal Omani Navy.
Furthermore, SDHI has also achieved a major breakthrough in the newbuilding market recently. The order for 6+6 18,000 DWT IMO II chemical tankers placed by Norwegian shipowner Rederiet Stenersen has officially entered into effect, with a total value of US$227 million. This marks SDHI’s first significant newbuilding contract since its takeover of Pipavav Shipyard. The lead vessel is scheduled for delivery within 33 months, i.e., by the fourth quarter of 2028, while subsequent vessels will be delivered in sequence at fixed intervals.
According to available information, SDHI was formerly known as Pipavav Shipyard, which was established in 1997. It has India’s largest dry dock (662 meters × 65 meters), a floating dock (340 meters × 60 meters) and an area of 2 million square meters with a shoreline of 1.2 kilometers. It can build VLCCs and offshore engineering equipment.
SDHI has a dedicated offshore engineering dock that can undertake the manufacturing, installation and loading of heavy engineering modules such as large platforms and offshore structures. It has completed a US$250 million renovation and upgrade project and has the capability to build large merchant vesselss. Currently, the shipyard’s capacity accounts for nearly 30% of India’s total capacity.