Indian Register of Shipping Chairman Capt J.C. Anand, made a courtesy call to Colombo Dockyard PLC (CDPLC) on July 11.

During his visit, he unveiled a commemorative plaque of IRS Classed Vada Tharakai II, the 100 Passenger Launch built by CDPLC for the Road Development Authority, which transfers thousands of commuters from the Jaffna peninsula to Delft Island.

He was accompanied to the Shipyard by C. Sri Rama Murthy, P.K. Mishra, D.V.D. Prasad Rao and Lalith Alahakone all of Indian Register of Shipping. Chairman Akihiko Nakauchi, MD and CEO Mangala P.B. Yapa and a host of senior managers of Colombo Dockyard received him and exchanged views for further strengthening of cooperation and sharing of technical expertise between the two organizations.

It was CDPLC who first entrusted IRS with the great responsibility of ‘Plan Approval’ through ‘Survey during construction’ of the Passenger Launch ‘Vada Tharakai II’ and this visit of Capt J.C. Anand to Sri Lanka after IRS achieving full classification membership of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS), is yet another courtesy bestowed to Sri Lanka and its fast growing shipping and maritime industry.

For the passenger launch Vada Tharakai II, IRS provided the full gamut of services from total plan approval to continuous inspection during construction from the initial lay up of the keel to delivery, paying attention to achieving the highest standards of safety, quality and reliability.

India, is growing at a rapid pace and has the vision to be a major player in the shipping and maritime sector. Senior stalwarts in the industry in the likes of Capt J.C. Anand charter the course of the industry to achieve the sectoral growth targets in order to meet national developmental goals.

Over the years, CDPLC has been actively contributing to augment and supplement this vision and plans of India, through our active participation in the ship repair and ship building and setting up new industry benchmarks and best practices, increasing competitiveness in the industry between the two countries.

This mutual cooperation between the two countries in the shipping and maritime sector made IRS open up its first overseas office in Sri Lanka in 1998, especially to cater to the increased amount of survey work, on most of the ship repairs and shipbuilding projects generating from Indian ship owners.

Over the past years, IRS has performed countless number of numerous statutory inspections, surveys and certifications and being stationed in Colombo, the yard has immensely benefited by their quick deployment capability.

Our relationship with IRS which started off with Ship repairs, later on moved on to the Shipbuilding arena too.

The first Specification Survey of a Shipbuilding Project was carried out by Venu Gopal on Tug Boats Yard Nos. NC/153 to NC/157 built for Sri Lanka Ports Authority during the years 2000 and 2001, where he assisted the Shipyard in carrying out various surveys and reviews in order to ensure that the shipyard meticulously achieve the requirements identified in the specification.

In 2006 and 2007, IRS played a pivotal role in the building the first Dual Class Vessel in Sri Lanka. This was for the construction of a series of four numbers 80 Ton Bollard Pull Anchor Handing Tug Supply Vessels for Greatship (India) Limited, where two classification societies performed the inspection and survey works, independently on the project.

IRS played yet another important role in the building of the first Passenger Vessel in Sri Lanka in 2007 and 2008. In this project, the IRS played a bigger role in the Design Development, Construction and Commissioning of the Vessel.

The project consisted of construction of a series of two numbers 250 Passenger cum 100 Ton Cargo Vessels namely ‘Arabian Sea’ and ‘Lakshadweep Sea’ for the Government of India. Both these vessels were successfully completed and delivered meeting stringent quality and safety standard requirements applicable for Passenger Vessels and enabled CDPLC to keep intact the confidence placed by the Government of India in awarding this prestigious contract to CDPLC.

Subsequently a number of more IRS dual classed 78 m Multi Purpose Platform Supply Vessels were built. All in all, since 2007, IRS has been involved in the inspection and survey of more than ten large vessels at Colombo Dockyard and through all these projects, has immensely contributed to uplift the standards of our shipbuilding.

With Sri Lanka becoming a dynamic maritime and logistic hub in this region, the Indian Register of Shipping is focusing its fullest attention towards further enhancing their active presence in Colombo.

It was under these developments, that the IRS Committee in Sri Lanka was inaugurated and CDPLC was recognized by the invitation to take-up the chair of the ‘Sri Lanka Committee of IRS’. Colombo Dockyard MD and CEO Mangala P.B. Yapa hence took up the Chairmanship, which is indeed a historical landmark and recognition of the progress Sri Lanka’s shipbuilding and maritime fraternity has achieved over the past decades.
(DN-21072011)