Media reports say that a dry dock facility will be developed by the Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) at its century-old boat basin and timber pond that would cater to smaller ships. The timber pond and boat basin in Chennai Port are located in the southwest ending of inner harbour (Ambedkar dock) created about 100 years ago.
After Hooghly Dock and Port Engineers at Kolkata, it will be the 2nd dock in the country’s east coast.
Near Chennai, L&T Kattupalli Port has a vessel building/repair facility, but it is a non-major port and caters to larger ships. Ships from the east coast often visit shipyards in Singapore for dry docking, while dredgers, tugs and cruise boats go to Colombo for repairs due to non-availability of dry docks in the Indian coast and quick turnaround time.
According to industry sources,the waiting period for some of the ships in Indian docks are said to be over 12 months. Some ships went to China docks due to cheaper tariff.
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