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The Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE), a defence public sector undertaking (DPSU) which is the only shipyard in the country to have built and delivered 109 warships to the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard, has made a foray into the world of commercial vessel export.  

On Saturday, GRSE signed an agreement with Carsten Rehder Schiffsmakler und Reederei GmbH & Co. KG, Germany, for the construction and delivery of four multi-purpose vessels of 7,500 DWT each, with an option of building another four ships in future.

These vessels will be 120 metres long and 17 metres wide with a maximum draft of 6.75 metres. Each of them will carry 7,500 metric tonnes of cargo. The vessels will have a single cargo hold each to accommodate bulk, general and project cargoes. 

Containers will be carried on hatch covers. The ships have been specifically designed to carry multiple large windmill blades on deck.

The agreement was signed by Cdr Shantanu Bose (Retd), Director (shipbuilding), GRSE, and Carsten Thomas Rehder, Managing Director, Carsten Rehder Schiffsmakler, in the presence of Cmde P.R. Hari, (Retd), Chairman and Managing Director, GRSE. 

While GRSE's mainstay has been the construction of warships for India's maritime defence forces, the shipyard has also been a pioneer in the export of ships. 

In 2014, the CGS Barracuda, an offshore patrol vessel built by GRSE, was exported to Mauritius. It was the first warship to be exported by India. 

In 2021, the GRSE-built fast patrol vessel PS Zoroaster was exported to the Seychelles. The ship returned to GRSE earlier this year for a refit that was completed in record time. 

In 2023, GRSE delivered the MV Ma Lisha, a passenger-cum-cargo ocean-going ferry to Guyana, which is the largest and most advanced ferry in that country now.

The shipyard is also working on six patrol boats and a TSH dredger for the Government of Bangladesh.