Pipavav Shipyard, now known as Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company Limited, is struggling to meet revised December 2014 deadline to deliver 12 Offshore Supply Vessels to ONGC. As per the original schedule, Pipavav Shipyard was to deliver Rs. 736 crore order by September 2011. However, meeting even the revised schedule seems to be an uphill task for the company as the project faces multiple problems. Delay in preparation of drawings and delays on account of requiring to conduct additional model testing of the hull of the OSVs from Austria are the main reasons for the slippage. The construction work also suffered on account of delay in steel procurement and shortage of skilled manpower at the shipyard. According to the available information fabrication of only six vessels has been completed so far while the fabrication of remaining vessels is still in progress.
Pipavav Shipyard, one of the largest and leading shipbuilding company in India, spread over 500 acres, had won the ONGC order in July 2009 beating nine contenders including ABG Shipyard Ltd, Bharati Shipyard Ltd and Cochin Shipyard Ltd. In fact, this was Pipavav Shipyard’s first order for building ships used to support offshore oil exploration.
