In a notification issued last week, the Ministry of Finance granted “infrastructure status” to large ships, a long-standing demand of India’s shipping industry. The announcement was already made during Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget on February 1 this year.
Large ships will now be included in the master list of infrastructure sub-sectors within the category of transport and logistics.
Indian-owned and flagged commercial ships having a gross tonnage of 10,000 and above or Indian built, owned ad flagged commercial ships of 1,500 gross tonnage or more will be under the infrastructure status.
Shipping Corporation, over the weekend, also announced that it has signed MoUs with BPCL, Indian Oil and HPCL, India’s state-run oil refiners to build and operate fleet together to support the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” vision.
As part of this MoU, the companies will jointly acquire, own, operate and manage vessels, which will be used for international trade as well as coastal transport of petroleum, petroleum products, petrochemicals and other hydrocarbon cargoes.
Garden Reach shares have surged after the company announced on Friday that it has signed a contract with Germany’s M/s Carsten Rehder Schiffsmakler und Reederei GmbH & Co. KG in Hamburg, Germany for the construction of four Hybrid Multi Purpose Vessels for a total value of $62.44 million.
The company has also signed multiple MoUs with strategic partners in the shipbuilding, port and infrastructure sectors. The MoUs were signed with the Deendayal Pot Authority, Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Authority, Indian Port Rail & Ropeway Corporation Ltd., The Shipping Corporation of India, and Modest Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.
Shares of Garden Reach Shipbuilders are trading with gains of 4.7% on Monday at ₹2,727, those of Shipping Corporation of India are trading with gains of close to 5% at ₹230.
