The country's largest commercial shipbuilder Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) on Thursday reported a 47.70 percent decline in net profit at Rs 108.36 crore for September quarter of 2020-21. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 207.57 crore in the second quarter of fiscal 2019-20, Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) said in a regulatory filing.

Revenue from operations fell 32.43 percent to Rs 657.40 crore in the quarter under review as compared with Rs 972.86 crore in the September quarter of last fiscal.

The Chennai bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had on March 4 approved the resolution plan submitted by CSL for acquisition of Tebma Shipyards Limited (TSL) which was undergoing insolvency proceedings, it said.

In compliance with the NCLT order, CSL said it paid the bid amount for takeover of TSL on September 15, with effect from which TSL has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.

During the quarter, in order to meet the challenges facing the company in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, CSL extended hours of operations by working in two shifts. This impacted depreciation to the tune of Rs 134.88 lakhs during the quarter, it said.

In a separate statement, the shipbuilder said it launched five vessels at one go from its building dock at Kochi and also laid the keel for two vessels. The vessels launched are two 8000 DWT mini general cargo ships for JSW Shipping & Logistics and three Floating Border Outpost Vessels (FBOP) for the Indian Border Security Force, a company spokesperson said.

Keel laying was carried out for two more 8000 DWT mini general cargo ships for JSW Shipping & Logistics Pvt, he said. The mini general cargo ships launched on Thursday are part of a series of four similar ships being built for the JSW Group, and will be used for transportation of dry bulk cargo such as coal, iron ore, dolomite, and limestone, the company said.

CSL said it is also expanding geographically and has commenced ship repair units at Mumbai, Kolkata and Port Blair in addition to its Kochi facilities.

Besides, it is also setting up fully-owned subsidiary shipyards at Kolkata and Malpe, Karnataka to cater to construction of small and medium vessels as well as inland water vessels.

It is also augmenting its infrastructure in Kochi and is currently investing around Rs 2,800 crore in construction of a new dry dock at CSL and a ship lift based ship repair yard at Willingdon Island, Kochi, the statement said.

First Published:Nov 13, 2020 9:41 AM IST