INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING

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1 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING Proceedings of the International Conference on Emerging Trends in Engineering and Management TECHNOLOGY (ICETEM14) (IJDMT) 30-31,December, 2014, Ernakulam, India ISSN (Print) ISSN (Online) Volume 5, Issue 3, September - December (2014), pp IAEME: Journal Impact Factor (2014): (Calculated by GISI) IJDMT I A E M E REQUIREMENT OF VOLUME OF DREDGING AND CAPACITY ENHANCEMENT OF DREDGERS IN INDIA JISHNU SAJI 1, Asso.Prof JOSE PRASOBH MJ 2, Prof. SATHEESH BABU.P.K 3 1 Dept. of Naval Architecture & Ship Building, SNGCE, Kadayiruppu, Ernakulam, Kerala , 2 Associate Professor, Dept. of Naval Architecture & Ship Building, SNGCE, Kadayiruppu, Ernakulam, Kerala , India 3 Professor & Head, Dept. of Naval Architecture & Ship Building, SNGCE, Kadayiruppu, Ernakulam, Kerala , India ABSTRACT Dredging is the sub aqueous or underwater excavation of rocks and soil. The purpose of this research is to analyze the present volume of dredging in India and to identify the actual requirement of dredging volume and the dredging fleet in India. The first phase of the study involves the identification of actual amount of capital and maintenance dredging being undertaken in India and the present available fleet of dredgers in the Public and private sector. The second phase involves the study on how various players get into this business and the final phase involves possible strategic methods of improving the capacity and meeting the dredging requirement. A possible alliance between the dredging majors with the help of govt. policies aiming in capacity creation for undertaking commercial dredging activities are also presented. Keywords: Dredging in India, CSD, DCI, Dredgers, TSHD I. INTRODUCTION India is focusing more on to the economic development and Indian economy has risen up to the level of being the tenth in the entire world. One of the reasons for this economic growth can be attributed to the increase in the trade. Trade, which is the most essential aspect of India's economy, is mainly oceanic based trade. India s 70 per cent by value and 90 per cent in volume of the trade is carried out through the seas. When it comes about the trade through seas, the important factor is shipping; larger the ship is, more the quantity of trade that happens. All the ports cannot handle huge vessels due to the vessel s high draft. So, it is mandatory to dredge the port channels to the required depth. Dredging also has importance concerning the local shipbuilding. So, dredging always acts as an infrastructure empowerment programme in the maritime sector. Dredging can be classified as capital dredging, maintenance dredging and inland dredging and related activities like land reclamation and beach nourishment. Indian ports are under big expansion plans and the needs for dredging are everlasting. In India, the main market is for maintenance dredging as compared to capital dredging and the major player is the Dredging Corporation of India (DCI). Recent changes in the Dredging policies in India is paving out way for private participations. The rate of hike up in the development of ports in the recent years has made many private and public players increase their dredging capabilities than before. 60

2 II. DREDGING AND TECHNOLOGY USED Dredging is rising of material from the bed of water covered area and disposing it out of that area in order to increase the draft by a floating plant called dredger. The dredging process consists of four steps: excavation, vertical transport, horizontal transport and arrangement of dredged material. The main types of dredgers are presented below: a) Mechanical Dredger which simply raises the material at it s in-situ density with a container such as a grab or a bucket.[1] b) Hydraulic Dredgers lifts up the material in suspension through a pipe mechanism using a pump. Some form of agitation and loosening of materials is to be done at the mouth of the suction pipe [1] Based on the type of dredging, the equipment used varies. But, most of the Indian ports use hydraulic dredgers, these dredgers have a mechanism to dig and dispose it through a pipeline to anywhere and also by storing it in hoppers. For, rock dredging, some special purpose heavy duty Cutter Suction Dredgers (CSDs) are necessary. In the other cases, Trailer Suction/Hopper Dredgers (TSHDs) are used. In addition to this, some auxiliary equipment like winch and anchor pontoons etc. is required for performing capital dredging. In India, the technology used for dredging is proper, but the quantity, appropriate application and management are weaker. III. OVERVIEW OF DREDGING IN INDIA The Indian dredging industry is facing extreme challenges. The speed of project allocations and implementation is very slow.india has private players in the dredging market,but many of them are not planning to get operations done in India due to the present policy and contractual issues which are yet to be fixed. The size of Indian dredging industry is estimated to be of around INR 20,000 Crore. The maritime agenda of India focuses on to invest around Rs 200 billion in the dredging projects at Indian ports till the year [2] In India, at present there are around 16 ministries and departments that oversee policies concerning the seas which exclude Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard under MoD. In a way, India has failed to harness and explore the exclusive economic zone it has by the joint operations of these ministries together which are so far not achieved. [2] This may be due to many reasons such as the core competences of these ministries are different or the activities and functioning of one of them may not be a concern for the other. In India, drafts at the major ports has been historically low and this is not in pace with the advancements taking place in the criterion of port trends, modern containerisation, advancement in ship sizes etc. Ports like Cochin which has a potent geographic location lacks good draft and huge vessels which need a considerable draft can t be berthed at Cochin. The following table shows the available drafts in the channels and berths at the major Indian ports. PORT Draft at Channel (in mts) Available Drafts at Berths (in mts) Kolkata to 13.7 Haldia 6.7 Vary with tidal variations Paradip to 13.5 Vishakhapatnam 10.7(IH),20(OH) 9.75 to 17 Chennai 18.6(IH),19.2(OH) 8.5 to 17.4 Tuticorin to 10.9 Cochin to 12.5 New Mangalore to 14 Mormugao to 14.1 Mumbai to 14.3 Jawaharlal Nehru to 13.5 Kandla 11.6,23.5(OOT) 9.1 to 12.5 Fig 1, Drafts at various in major Indian ports as per [2] When considering the draft at the major Indian ports, average draft ranges from 8m to 12m and in most of the ports,it vary from 7-14 m. Chennai has the maximum available draft in the berth considering all other ports. Many countries have increased their drafts from m which make them potent of handling new generation container vessels with capacity of more than 10,000 TEUs (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) and super tankers. Indian ports are in the ambitious project of improving their drafts and this paves in a way for a potent market for dredging in India. Apart from the ordinary ports, the construction of various Greenfield ports in India has also increased the necessity of dredging in India. Indian market is mainly engaged with maintenance dredging as of due to the Location of ports / river in ports, current siltation patterns, monsoon in East and West Coast etc. The dredging quantity is usually expressed in Million Cubic Metres (MCM). A total quantity of around MCM and MCM was planned for capital and maintenance dredging in Indian ports. (I.e. Planned Net total = MCM) But, only MCM and 61

3 CM were achieved under the same entities. (Net Total Achieved = MCM) i.e only % of the planned volume was achieved. [2] The reason for this failure in achievement of target rates can be attributed to factors like poor response from the involved bidders, improper engineering surveys on deciding the type of dredging to be done, environmental considerations, finance shortage etc. But, another thing to have noted is that the non-major ports has done capital dredging works better than major ones. I.e. Around % of their target alone in capital dredging was achieved by non-major ports as compared to the figure of 31.96% by major ones on the same. [2] IV. PRESENT DREDGING VOLUME AND ACTUAL REQUIREMENT IN INDIA The present dredging volume as well as the targeted volume at major ports of India are summarised in MCM in the Table below. PORTS Target Dredging volume Present Dredging Volume Capital Maintenance Total Capital Maintenance Total Kolkata Paradip Vizag Chennai Tuticorin Cochin New Mangalore Mormugao Mumbai JNPT Kandla Ennore Indian Navy Total Fig 2, Review of Dredging Quantities at Major Indian ports. [2] capital maintenance Targeted volume Present Volume Fig 3, Column Chart reading the targeted and present total volume of dredging. From the above table, it can be seen that there is no capital dredging going on at Kolkata, New Mangalore and JNPT presently. Also, there is no maintenance dredging going on at Tuticorin. The maximum capital dredging at present is at Cochin, Ennore and Mumbai. The considerably good capital dredging at Ennore can be attributed as of due to local shipbuilding needs also. The required dredging volume at Chennai is not estimated yet.the capital dredging volume targeted by the Indian Navy is not clearly available. The massive capital dredging is planned at Mumbai, JNPT and Cochin respectively. The total volume is the maximum at Cochin, Kolkata and Mumbai. From the above table, it can be summarised that the total dredging planned in India is almost double that of the present volume dredged. The capital dredging requirements for major ports during the years has been planned for many port projects by ports of Kolkata, Paradip, Vishakhapatnam, Ennore, Chennai, Tuticorin, Mormugao, JNPT, Kandla etc. are envisaged to perform the capital dredging of more than 10 MCM. The total planned dredging quantity of all Indian 62

4 ports is MCM of all the 12 major ports which includes the Indian Navy requirement. The requirements of maintenance dredging as per plans are [2] The net total requirement was MCM which is in fact less than that of during the years from The dredging requirements proposed by the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) for the years is as follows. [2] Sl. Year Major ports No Capital Maintenance Total Total Fig 4, the dredging requirements proposed by the ministry of shipping for the years [2] Capital Maintenance Fig 5, Column chart showing the dredging requirements proposed by MoS for the years JNPT Mumbai is India s largest container port and it is restricted as per terms of draft, the port ensures berthing by the time of high tide when the depth is more. This means that till the time of high tide, the ships have to wait at outer sea in anchorage. This will create economic loss to the charterer, ship s owner and on the technical side; more time spent on anchorage will give rise to marine shell growth in ship s hull. This will reduce ship s speed and will also result in less fuel efficiency. Some of the major ports can t admit 14 m draft vessels in their berths, so separately dredged berths has to be constructed to manage such vessels as per the 12 th five year plan s dredging proposals and if so,all the major ports will be able to handle the 14 m draft vessels. Also, new ships built as per post Panamax dimensions cannot be berthed in such ports with low draft as their vessel s bottom part will get damaged and there is always a chance of grounding, particularly at the time of low tide. So, a minimum draft of 14m will give India s major ports the ability to handle post Panamax size ships. This is the major reason for the consideration of 14 m draft. V. PRESENT FLEET OF DREDGERS IN INDIA The major fleet of Dredgers in India is owned by The DCI and among the private players, Jaisu Shipping Co. Pvt Ltd, Kandla owns the largest number of dredgers. At present DCI operates 12 TSHDs, 3 CSDs and 1 Backhoe Dredger in India. [3] So, the total fleet of dredgers owned by DCI is 16. The details of Dredgers with Indian Private Dredging companies are summarised in the table below. [2] 63

5 Sl No. Dredging Companies No. Of Dredgers 1 Jaisu Shipping Company 29 2 International Seaport Dredging Pvt. Ltd 1 3 Van Oord 1 4 Mercator Lines 4 5 MEKA Corporation 1 6 Dharti Dredging and Construction 15 7 Ardeshir B Curtesji & Sons 5 8 Maldar Dredging and Salvages Pvt. Ltd Sahara Dredging Seagull Dredging Pvt. Ltd M Pallonji and Company Pvt. Ltd Dredging & Desiltation Pvt. Ltd 4 13 Ocean Dredging 5 14 Pluto Shipping Pvt. Ltd 1 Fig 6, The list of dredgers owned by the private dredging companies in India. [2] Major private owners of dredgers jaisu shipping co. M Pallonji & Co. Ltd. Maldar dredging Sahara Dredging Dharti Dredging & construction Other Companies Fig 7, The pie Chart showing the Major Private owners of dredgers in the dredging sector in India From the above table and pie chart, it is can be understood that the private companies owns the maximum number of Dredgers in India and among them Jaisu Shipping Company Pvt. Ltd, Maldar Dredging & Salvages Pvt. Ltd and Sahara Dredging Company owns the maximum number of dredgers. Jaisu Shipping Company owns around 23 % of the total number of dredger vessels and Maldar Dredging Company owns about 17 % of the dredger vessels in the private sector in India. VI. GOVT. OF INDIA S POLICIES ON DREDGING In India, the policies associated with dredging is constituted by 16 ministries & departments of the Govt. of India.Indian Navy and Coastguard is not included from this as they report directly to Ministry of Defence. The Govt. of India s new dredging policy and forward looking statement as per the Indian Maritime Agenda 2020 promises to encourage private competition in this field. [3] The existing dredging policy guidelines issued by Ministry Of Shipping (MoS) are as under: [4], [5] a. All the major ports shall invite open competitive bids for dredging works and Indian companies owning Indian flagged dredgers, including DCI shall have the right of first refusal if the rate is within 10% of the lowest valid offer available. This will apply to both maintenance and capital dredging works with sole exception of the maintenance dredging requirement of Kolkata Port for which separate instructions may apply. 64

6 b. If more than one company owning Indian flag dredger participates in the tender, the right of first refusal will go to that Indian company which has quoted the lowest of all the rates and is within 10% of the lowest valid offer put up in that tender. c. All major ports may strictly adhere to the guidelines issued by the CVC from time to time for processing tenders in a transparent manner. Ports may ensure that some sort of a pre-qualification criterion is fixed in advance and it should not be very stringent to restrict the entry of certain potential Indian bidders. d. The Government of India through MoS reserves the right to assign, in public interest, any contract for dredging work in any of the major ports to DCI on nomination. e. Guidelines issued by DG (Shipping), Mumbai from time to time in terms of the relevant provisions of Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 shall be applicable. The dredging policy in India is awaiting changes, entailing for good competition. The government had prepared a draft note on the dredging policy it plans to submit to the cabinet. The policy may allow private companies to compete for underground excavations in the marine sector and any further change in this policy will also focus on promoting coastal shipping. VII. OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRIVATE PLAYERS AND ALLIANCES IN THIS BUSINESS Apart from being a closed market, the dredging market in India is slowly opening up to private players as compared to that of the 90s and 2000s. From April 2004, all major ports except, Kolkata are supposed to open their dredging contracts for competitive bid. The dredging sector in India has opportunities remaining to exploit and considering this opportunity, a mega dredging alliance was proposed between Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) and Cochin Shipyard. [6] This was sacked later due to some issues that had arisen then.[7] The issue was whether they will be able to dredge more efficiently than the private players as none of the alliance members posses a good direct experience in dredging. Since the investments were huge, it does not make sense to buy dredgers just for the current dredging requirement at JNPT or MbPT as dredging is not their core-competence. [6]The revenue for this alliance was accounted for around INR 33 Crore in the first year and this was supposed to increase in the coming years. It was estimated that the alliance will start earning profit by the third year of its inception if this project was carried forward. But, SCI is looking for new ventures like joining hands with a private firm with good expertise and engage in dredging activities. In order for a private player to get into this business, participation in the call of tenders comes up only if they can qualify and for that you need to tie up with an established player to fulfil the pre-qualification criterion. So, private dredging companies are yet to exploit the capability of possible alliances in this business, private players doesn t actually need to face a competition from foreign company s dredgers, as Indian local players are able to provide dredgers at low cost. If private players are able to forecast some new technology which promotes environment friendly dredging as well as efficient dredging in lower costs,that will be an addendum to their growth and entry in to the market. Also their capabilities will be foreseen with priority. VIII. HUMAN RESOURCE EMPOWERMENT, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE INDIAN DREDGING INDUSTRY A major drawback of the Indian dredging industry is the lack of trained manpower. Investment should happen in human resource empowerment and development model in the dredging industry. Some training institutes has to be set up with their core-competence in dredging and this may possibly help in utilising the existing dredging facilities in a more efficient and effective way thereby increasing the dredging even somehow by a small ratio urgently. Apart from the Chief Engineer and the Master, there may be an engineer officer or a navigating officer who has achieved sufficient training, but the people operating the dredging equipments may have less theoretical knowledge about the system s working, such people should be properly trained to use and handle the equipments in order to prevent the frequent breakdown. If some dredging majors are forming an alliance, they can join hands together and set up a good training institute for imparting training on dredging. [6] In the future, a training institute for dredging will become a definite requirement to a coastal country like India. This type of institutes may have a usual navigation simulator, engine simulator like the marine engineering training institutes and a dredging machinery simulator for imparting their core training on dredging. People who have taken some sort of technical training in polytechnic training institutes etc. may be imparted some additional training in dredging related areas so that once they are trained and made industry-ready, they may join as foremen in the dredging industry in India and abroad when there are vacancies. They may train people on pre and post survey techniques on the dredging. Also, some kind of management level courses on dredging can also be conducted there like many institutes conduct post graduate level management courses in shipping and logistics. The motto of such institute should be to produce trained 65

7 professionals to take up managerial posts in dredging and dredging related firms in India and around the globe. This institute may also impart further training to undergraduate naval architects on specialised dredger design courses. Such institutes may be also be supported by already proven maritime institutes which were able to produce proven marine engineers and navigation officers in the shipping industry. Research and development is the core of innovation in any industry. This institute may be supported by a Research and Development centre which will be an addendum to technological enhancement. There are wide varieties of areas related to dredging where research has to be done. There is only less research going on the slurry associated with dredging. There is a necessity and a huge scope of research in the transport, the pumps used and hydrodynamics of slurry. This remains as an untouched field in India. Research can also be done in efficient and innovative dredge techniques. The institute may further setup tie-ups with premier research institutes for initial support. Apart from setting up an institute, there should be some kind of initiatives to motivate young and dynamic people to join dredging industry. Some dredging industry s career orientation rallies may be conducted in engineering colleges throughout the country so that the engineers in the making may be driven towards dredging as a career opportunity. Also, a dredge museum may be set up which encompasses many type dredger models, facilities to describe working principles and equipment, survey techniques, sea bottom models etc. So that people may get motivated to join this field. There are such museums at countries like Netherland, Germany, Belgium etc. which runs successfully. Also, this may gain some income to the governing authorities and this will also be an addendum to the tourism in India. IX. EXTENSION OF DREDGING IN INDIA Apart from the core dredging, there is lot of associated activities and areas of business scope in the dredging industry. This includes supportive industries, mining, creation of artificial islands, brick industry using dredge spoil, canal dredging etc. When a dredger vessel is dry-docked for repairs or some machinery in a dredger vessel breaks down, it needs to be repaired. When dry-docked, it is not mandatory that the docking parties to posses the technology, capacity or knowledge to perform repair on the dredging equipments onboard the vessel. So, there is a possibility of supportive industries to procure this job and perform. Such industries may flourish in chances. Also, there can be industries that manufacture and market dredging consumables like lubricants, spares etc. This type of industries can provide employment opportunities to skilled people. There are chances for the agencies that perform post and pre-survey on the dredging area to flourish. Dredging can also be extended to sub-strata mining. There can be reserves of manganese etc. in the sub-strata of underwater portion. Some investment may be laid on to conduct surveys on availability of such deposits and the possibility of its extraction. If some investment is laid on canal-river dredging, this paves new way for mass transportation of goods and may boost cargo transport and enhances the possibility of cheaper mobility of goods. One big problem of the Indian dredging industry is the methodology followed for the disposal of the slurry dredged. The determining factors for the disposal method considered are: type of the material dredged out, location of the dredged area, the type of the dredger used etc. It may be disposed somewhere at the pre-determined offshore site, it may be used for beach nourishment, or may be filled in land pits. In any case, laboratory tests are conducted on the dredged material to know whether it s hazardous and disposed slurry may be used up for making bricks after removing the contaminations present. This slurry s saline contents will be high, if some research is conducted on to develop a cheap method to desalinate the slurry as well as to remove all the contaminations from the slurry to make it suitable for manufacturing good class of bricks. Also,laboratory tests has to be conducted on it to determine the particle size,compressive strength,solid density Also, bricks manufactured in such methods could be marketed in separate ways. Some sort of market research has to be done on its business. Also, very fine dredged sand may be used for grading in ready mixed concrete. Also, the possibility of artificial Islands has to be assessed in possible ecological locations. This will enhance capital dredging in that area. But, the construction of these islands should be in a sustainable manner not affecting the environment. The construction of artificial islands may affect the present siltation patterns and there can be considerable unfavourable variations in the ocean currents. Such variations can have an impact on the maritime sector of the neighbouring countries also and sometimes it can be disastrous. X. POSSIBLE METHODS OF INCREASING DREDGING CAPACITY IN INDIA Indian dredging market is largely maintenance dredging oriented due to the location of ports / river in ports, Siltation pattern, established monsoon in East and West Coast. This should actually change and more efforts should be relied on the capital dredging in order to increase the draft as required. In order to perform this maintenance dredging, dredging firms will try to maintain the existing fleet of dredgers only as there isn t need of new effort. When the capital 66

8 dredging is required, the dredging firms may try to expand their fleet. Also, some assessment on the possibility of artificial islands has to be studied and if such constructions are happening, that will enhance the capital dredging. The developmental activities of the ports are also facing delays in most of the time, due to technical and legal reasons. There are many legal barrens that prevent dredging in the required and proposed way. This directly affects the dredging and affects in the revenue generation by dredging sector. The definition of dredging in the rules must be changed in order to make it favourable. Only if dredging is profitable, some investment can take place in this. Some investment should also done in order to improve the present technology used in dredging like use of jet pumps instead of traditional methods to reduce costs by around 60 %. There is a need to formulate dredging contracts in a manner that clearly specifies the responsibilities of the parties involved in it and this will bring out the participation of more dredgers, this includes proper sharp survey on the total area to be dredged and proper estimation by the port authorities before giving contract to dredge. India doesn t have some real acting capacity in the dredging business. Indian shipyards do lack a good technical knowledge on dredger design and construction. There can be hull construction, but the equipments and machineries used for dredging activity are not manufactured in India. Some investment should be laid on to improve the knowledge and capability of Indian shipyards to build dredgers indigenously and there is a significant market existing for Indian shipbuilders in this area due to their cost competitiveness. Also, there has to be a change in the policy on patenting of dredge equipment in India. There is a good possibility of a collaboration of ship builders, ship designers, dredging equipment designers and manufacturers, Hydraulic machinery manufacturers, DCI, MoS and many dredging associations etc. Such collaborations will result in huge productivity as the weaknesses of each of them will be covered by the potential of the other members in the coalition. The Shipping Corporation of India plans to buy its own dredgers and deploy it at the Kandla Port, if Indian shipyards are able to procure and are willing to expand their technology to manufacture these dredgers, that will be a turning point to them and once they are done with this in an excellent way, they may get further orders from abroad. XI. CONCLUSION Dredging is necessary for many reasons. It is required to deepen the access channels, installation of offshore drilling platforms etc. Dredging, if employed in the proper way, it can remove subaqueous pollutants and improve water quality. Around 30 % of the costs for setting up a new port can be attributed to dredging. The present volume is % less than the targeted volume as per the 12th five year plan. Continuous maintenance dredging is required as there is always a threat from the siltation patterns in Indian ports possibly making the channels too shallow for navigation. The largest player at present in India in this sector is DCI.Over the next years, the dredging requirements in India is huge and this requires the emergence of new companies and in due course, it requires foreign technical collaborations which may reduce the dredging costs and make this business economical. Also the major dredging company alliances should propagate in a good form and make the dredging processes in the country viable for economic growth. Also, environment friendly and sustainable dredging should be encouraged. [8] Polluted and non-polluted dredged material should be separately disposed off. In India, the concept of environmental dredging is given less importance. Some investment should be laid onto human resource empowerment and research & development in the field of dredging. The policies at present are highly favourable to DCI s protection as a public sector organisation. In order for the private dredging players in India grow to the level of being global dredging giants, some good incentives are needed for them from the Govt. side like speedy clearances etc. Also, Indian shipbuilders should make some initiatives and put some investment for focussing onto construction of dredgers. REFERENCES [1] DCI forward looking statements analytics. ppt [2] REPORT OF WORKING GROUP FOR PORT SECTOR FOR THE TWELFTH FIVE YEAR PLAN ( ), CHAP 9. Govt. Of India, MINISTRY OF SHIPPING, October [3] MARITIME AGENDA ,Ministry of Shipping [4] The Dredging Corporation of India, The Wikipedia [5] DREDGING CORPORATION OF INDIA LIMITED Prospectus dated March 5, 2013, which was issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India. (SEBI) [6] Report for the Dredging Alliance by Earnest & Young [7] [8] Principles of Sustainable Dredging, The World Organization of Dredging Associations (WODA) 67