Visakhapatnam: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on October 6 calls for stronger indigenous shipbuilding capabilities and urges Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) to move beyond self-reliance towards global competitiveness. His remarks come as HSL launches India’s first Fleet Support Ship, lays the keel of the fifth ship in the series and commissions upgraded shipbuilding infrastructure at Visakhapatnam.
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Singh says “self-reliance is an important milestone, but global competitiveness is the next big leap”, stressing that Indian shipyards need to compete with leading global facilities on quality, cost, technology, delivery and reliability. He calls for HSL to become a benchmark for quality, productivity and timely delivery.
The Defence Minister also calls for Visakhapatnam to emerge as a major maritime industrial hub, leveraging the presence of HSL, the Eastern Naval Command, Naval Dockyard and Visakhapatnam Port. He advocates closer integration between HSL and Andhra Pradesh’s MSMEs, universities, technology companies and start-ups to create a complete shipbuilding ecosystem.
The push comes alongside major capacity upgrades at HSL. The upgraded Slipway-4 can handle vessels of up to 45,000 deadweight tonnes, while the new 300-tonne Goliath Crane enables faster and more precise handling of heavier ship blocks. The infrastructure is designed to support larger and more complex shipbuilding programmes.
Singh also highlights the importance of the Fleet Support Ship programme for the Navy’s operational reach. The 43,500-tonne vessels provide at-sea replenishment, allowing warships to sustain longer deployments across the Indian Ocean Region. The launch of FSS-1, keel-laying of FSS-5 and infrastructure expansion together strengthen both the Navy’s logistics capability and India’s domestic shipbuilding base.
The Defence Minister further calls for Indian shipyards to target friendly foreign countries and international markets, with capabilities spanning shipbuilding, repair, maintenance and maritime engineering. For HSL, the objective is therefore no longer only to meet domestic naval requirements but to build the industrial scale, productivity and technological capability needed to compete internationally.
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