Fincantieri, Cochin Shipyard to cooperate in naval sector

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with India’s Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) focusing on the naval sector.

With this agreement, Fincantieri enhances its presence in India, providing further momentum to the long-standing partnership with the state-owned group CSL, which owns facilities both on the east and west coast of India.

As informed, the MOU lays down the cooperation principles in several fields:

• design, procurement and local construction of new vessels for the Indian defense market;
• local construction and marketing of mechanical products (such as propulsion propellers, shaft lines, stabilization and steering systems, thrusters, azimuthal thrusters);
• naval automation;
• ship repair;
• and training of Indian personnel and consultancies to be carried out by Fincantieri in the field of design or construction or shipyard upgrade processes.

The MoU will be followed by a series of detailed agreements, outlining – from time to time – the respective roles and the scope of supply.

Different areas of the Fincantieri group may benefit from these understandings — the Naval Vessels Division, the Systems and Components Division, as well as Seastema, Vard Marine and Fincantieri India.

In the past, Fincantieri entered into contracts with CSL – to which the Indian Navy awarded the construction of the country’s first locally built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant – for the design and integration of the unit’s engine system, as well as for the supply of complementary services.

Fincantieri also delivered the two fleet tankers INS Deepak and INS Shakti to the Indian Navy, in addition to the research vessel Sagar Nidhi built for the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT).