DCIL set to clock Rs. 1,000 cr in FY23

DCIL would appeal against the decision of the Director General of Shipping to scrap vessels aged over 20 years. DCIL said, if the proposal is implemented, it would be hit hard as acquiring replacement needs time

Visakhapatnam: Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCIL) is cruising ahead to set a new record by joining the rare group of public sector companies with a turnover of over Rs 1,000 crore.

“We are very happy that we are just a few days away from surpassing the target of Rs 1,000 crore set for the current financial year. With a turnover of Rs 372 crore during the third quarter and a projected business of Rs 200 crore to Rs 300 crore in the last quarter, it will be a cakewalk for us to cross the target,” Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA) Chairman K Rama Mohana Rao, who is also the Chairman of DCIL told Bizz Buzz on Monday.

The company is under the strategic control of a consortium comprising Visakhapatnam Port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Paradip Port and Deen Dayal (Kandla) Port, who acquired 73.47 per cent Government of India shareholding in 2019 on payment of Rs 1050 crore. VPA has a majority stake over the other three major ports. During the three quarters of the fiscal, the company has transacted a business of Rs 827 crore.

The company with headquarters in Visakhapatnam takes up dredging of various kinds for the ports and fishing harbours. It also offers consultancy and undertakes overseas projects for dredging and land reclamation.

Earlier in the day, Rao launched the yearly beach nourishment project by DCIL. VPA is in agreement with DCIL for nourishing the eroded beaches in the city by spending Rs 20 crore per annum for a period of 30 days as part of its corporate social responsibility. It achieved the best-ever turnover of Rs 802 crore in 2021-22.

Rao said DCIL under Atma Nirbhar Bharat will get a new trailing suction hopper dredger with a capacity of 12,000 cubic meters at an estimated cost of Rs 850 crore to augment its fleet. The key components and software for the dredger are being provided by IHC Hollard. Cochin Shipyard Limited is manufacturing the vessels. Talks are also underway to procure another dredger. It takes three years to construct a dredger of 12,000 cubic meters capacity.

Rao said they would appeal against the decision of the Director General of Shipping to scrap vessels aged over 20 years. If the proposal is implemented, DCIL would be hit hard as acquiring replacements need time.

Earlier, while inaugurating Visakhapatnam Sand Trap Dredging to dredge 0.2 million cubic meters of sand in 30 days, he said Visakhapatnam coast is facing erosion since beginning, specially RK Beach and INS Kursura Submarine Museum area due to lack of sand supply from southern side, thereby adversely affected the coastal shore during past few years.

Rao said that VPA has been trying to control the erosion by regularly nourishing the RK Beach with the sand available in the sand trap at the outer harbour. Shoreline changes viz erosion or accretion is a natural phenomenon which occurs throughout the coast with varying magnitude due to natural processes and man-made interventions. The seasonally changing winds during the southwest monsoon (June-September) and northeast monsoon (December-February) generate wind-waves from different directions towards the beaches.

Along the coast, littoral drift occurs in the northerly direction for eight to nine months in a year with the wave approaching the coast from the southwest. There is a southerly littoral drift for three to four months due to north-east monsoon waves. This variation in the littoral drift results in instability of beaches where man-made structures disrupt the free-sand movement.

Rao said during the past 25 years the Andhra Pradesh shoreline is experiencing 25-25 per cent erosion of various magnitudes and emphasised on the fact that to reduce the erosion, DCIL with its state of art dredgers, dredge the sand material from sand trap area inside the port and pump the sand using self-floating pipeline of length 0.50 km to near RK Beach coast.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by Capt S Divakar, MD and CEO, DCIL, Durgesh Kumar Dubey, Deputy Chairman, VPA and P S Lingeswara Swami, CVO, VPA/DCIL.