Mazagon Dock Limited

Mazagon Dock Limited is the India's premier shipyard constructing warships as well as offshore platforms. Main activities are shipbuilding,shiprepairs and fabrication of offshore structures with facilities situated at Mumbai and Nhava. We have the capability to build vessels such as warships, submarines, merchant ships upto 30,000 DWT and fabrication of well head platforms, process and production platforms and jack up rigs. For outfitting work, the company has a large number of workshops with sophisticated equipment and machines specific to hull fabrication and ship construction work. Repair work is also under taken using the available facilities.

MDL has constructed a variety of ships both for the defence and the commercial sector. In the defence sector the major customers have been the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard. MDL has to date constructed twenty one warships and seven OPVs. The first warship , a Leander Class Frigate, was christened INS NILGIRI and was commissioned in 1972. Two type 1500 Submarines-SHALKI and SHANKUL have also been built in India by MDL. The first of a new class of 6700 ton destroyers, INS DELHI was commissioned in November 1997, and the second ship, INS MYSORE in June 1999. Seven 1200 tons Offshore Patrol Vessels, currently in service, were designed, built and commissioned by MDL for the Indian Coast Gaurd.

Mazagon Dock built the INS Nilgiri - India's first indigenously built Leander class frigate. Five more ships followed in the subsequent decade, each an improvement over the previous one. These had enhanced anti-submarine capabilities with facilities for landing and carrying seeking helicopters. The level of improvements made on each subsequent frigate is apparent when one considers that the last of the Leanders, Taragiri, and Vindhyagiri bore little resemblance to their older sisters. Mazagon Dock has reason to be proud of its achievements as all the improvements on the Leanders were carried out by an in-house team of experts.

India's first indigenously designed missile frigates of the Godavari class were also build by Mazagon Dock. INS Godavari, was commissioned in 1983, followed by Ganga in 1985 and Gomati in 1988. The Navy also selected the yard as the lead shipyard to build its new corvettes and Missile Boats, and to take on construction of the largest indigenously designed warships - the guided missile destroyers of the Delhi class. The first of this class, Delhi was commissioned in 1997, followed by Mysore in 1999 and the third, Bombay will join the Navy in 2000. These 6,800 tonne, gas turbine propelled vessels are the largest warships to be built in India.

Mazagon Dock displayed its versatility in building submarines for the Indian Navy. The Shalki in 1992 and Shankul in 1994 are high technology type 209 submarines built in collaboration with M/s HDW of Germany. The facilities for production of submarines were set up at Mazagon Dock on 1984.

The Dock has also helped safeguard the country's coastline by designing and delivering specially constructed 1200 - tonne offshore Patrol Vessels to the Coast Guard. Moreover, Mazagon Dock has designed and constructed over fifty-five non-combative vessels of various types including multi-purpose cargo vessels, dredgers, tugs, harbour craft, support vessels, passenger vessels and water tankers.

MDL has developed a wide range of products for the commercial sector and has constructed a variety of ships ranging from Offshore Supply Vessels, and Harbour Utility Vessels/Crafts such as Tugs-15 nos., Dredgers-11 nos., 9000 Cu.M. Water Tankers-2 nos., Passenger cum Cargo Vessels-3 nos. and an assortment of Support Vessels, Trawlers and Barges besides a Virtual jetty, a Multi-point mooring system and Floating cranes. The shipyard has Long standing experience in dealing with all international classification societies both for new construction and ship repairs.

The dock was built with the aim of repairing merchant ships and warships belonging to the British, French, Moghul and Maratha fleets. According to the records, Mazagon Dock's ability to build teak ships earned it a pride of place in Indian maritime history. Mazagon Dock has the enviable reputation of having built one of Britain's oldest and famous vessels - the Trincomalee. Built in 1814, she was commissioned in 1817 as a 46-gun frigate. After eight decades of meritorious service, she was renamed the Foudroyant and converted into a maritime museum giving visitors a glimpse of life at sea after the Napoleonic wars.

Over the years, Mazagon Dock witnessed many changes. Modernisation and expansion activities were put into place including the construction of three dry docks. In 1934, it become a Pu8blic Ltd. Company. Twenty six years later on 14th May 1960 it passed into the hands of the Indian Government.

Mazagon Dock's forte lies in using a healthy blend of traditional ship repair skills and modern technology to perform challenging tasks. Over the years it has risen to the occasion every time the maritime fraternity has had an unusual requirement. Whether it was the task of replacing the damaged bow structure of HMS Ambuscade or converting Indian Navy's Trishul from a gun toting frigate to a missile carrying one, Mazagon Dock has proved more than equal to the task.