Indian Shipbuilding Industry : A critique on KPMG Whitepaper

The other day I was going through a report prepared by KPMG for FICCI “Indian Shipbuilding Industry: Poised for take off”, wherein they had mentioned India could be the next powerhouse in shipbuilding. You can read the report here.

The report seems to have been prepared by people whose understanding of the Shipbuilding Industry is naïve to put it politely. Not only have they got their facts wrong (by a huge margin!!!), but their conclusions seemed to be flawed.

Their report claims that the Indian Shipbuilding industry is poised to take off and India could emerge a worthy competitor to Japan, Korea and China. Their conclusions are based on the fact that Indian Shipbuilding industry would see an influx of Rs 200 Billion ($5 Billion) in the next 5-10 years. Moreover India with its cheap labor would be an attractive destination for competitive pricing of shipbuilding.

Global Shipbuilding has shown a CAGR of around 6 % from 1980-2007. This fact is nothing earthshaking, given the fact that during this period the Global GDP has also risen 6% annually. What this means is that on an average, every industrial activity has risen on an average of 6 % annually. Shipbuilding is no exception.

Because of the phase-out of Single Hull Tankers, the global shipbuilding orders have quadrupled in the last 5 years. This is as of 2007. I am sure 40 % of the orders would have got cancelled because of the ongoing recession due to the US sub-prime Mortgage crisis. Moreover with more emphasis on renewable energy sources, than the traditional petroleum products and with countries promising to cut their carbon emissions by atleast 20 % in the next five years, the scope for trading in Oil products is getting smaller and smaller.

Labor Cost : The report states that shipbuilding is a labor intensive activity (Wrong!!!) and labor accounts for 10 % of the total shipbuilding cost (Correct!!).

As rightly brought out in the report, labor accounts for 10 % of shipbuilding cost and hence is NOT a labor intensive activity. 90 % of the cost is associated with material costs, overheads and technological set up. To break it up further, 20 % of the total cost would be Steel, approximately 47 % is the cost of Finished Manufactured goods, 13 % costs are the overheads and the rest 10 % are the misc expenses. Thus even if we stick to the Report’s contention that Indian Labor is competitive compared to World’s markets, India is still competitive in only 10 % of the total costs.

Now let me come to the next assumption in the Report that ‘India’s labor cost is cheap’. As per Fig 7b ‘Cost of Labor in 2008’, the chart shows that India’s labor cost is 1.5 USD per day (i.e Rs 60/- INR). I am not aware where the Management Consultancy Firm KPMG got this absolutely crap figures from. Or is it, that they are fabricating the facts to support their contention. Most states in India, have Minimum basic Wages of 4 USD (Rs 200/- day). It is a known fact that the Minimum basic wages in the shipbuilding industry could touch somewhere between Rs 250- Rs 300 (5-7 USD). Taking this into account India’s labor cost is two and a half times China’s costs. So as far as the labor cost is concerned, India does not have edge over China.

Till now I have not taken into account, the labor productivity where India lags behind all the other shipbuilding nations. The labor productivity in terms of tons/mandays is 1/10 of Japan and ½ of China. Thus the contention that India is labor competitive compared to other nations is a myth.

Indian Shipyards have bagged huge quantum of International Shipbuilding orders: The report states that the Indian Shipyards, notably ABG Shipping and Bharti Shipping have bagged international orders in the last 2-3 years and their order books are already full till 2012. This could be true, but that does not mean that the shipyards which have bagged these orders have got it because of their competitive pricing. It is a known fact that the order books of Japanese, Korean and Chinese Shipyards are already full till 2015 with orders of Container Vessels, Super tankers and PANAMAX vessels and they have no further capacity to take any further shipbuilding orders, until and unless they upgrade or increase their shipyard facilities. Thus the ship owners were reluctantly forced to go to third world countries like India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam to augment their fleet size as none of the developed shipbuilding nations were willing to take up their orders.

Other problems with Indian Shipbuilding Industry

Lack of Creativity and Innovation : It is a known fact Indians are hardly known for their creative ideas/ innovation. The last great creative work done by Indians was the creation of Zero and that was way back in 1000 BC. This is not to say that, India has not progressed in the last three thousand years. They have progressed, but on the shoulders of other nations, not in their own capacity. Indians are good at solving equations once an equation is given to them, but poor at formulating equations or finding a practical use out of the equations. This is clearly seen in one of the achievements of Independent India, their so called Software Industry. The Indian Software Giants INFOSYS, Wipro and TCS are globally very competitive, but are not house hold names compared to Microsoft, Adobe, Macromedia, etc. Till date, these firms have yet to come up with an innovative product catering to the masses. These so called Software Giants are good at ‘one of a kind products’, not because they are competitive in that field, but because the actual Software Giants like Microsoft, Adobe , etc will not want to get into such ‘menial’ tasks or as Caste Indians term them ‘Shudra jobs’.

The same lack of creativity find a place in the shipbuilding industry. They cannot conceive of a new kind of vessel (For Eg, the Container Vessel). Their lack of creativity is amply shown in their lack of Design capabilities. The Indian Shipyards totally survive on Technology Transfers from Foreign Shipyards. Research & Development is an anathema to the Indian Shipbuilders.

Conclusion

Contrary to what the KPMG report claims, Indian Shipbuilding is nowhere near the class of Japanese, Korean or Chinese Shipbuilders. The Indian Cheap Labor cost is nothing but a myth. Their shipyards are what the US shipyards were a hundred years back. Most of the Indian Shipyards lack a CNC cutting machine, forget about robotic welders. Moreover India’s archaic labor laws would prevent the introduction of any labor saving technology. Lack of creativity is a bane of Indians and their creative spirit has not been shown in the past three thousand years.

But is all lost? Is India’s Shipbuilding Industry doomed for eternity in the backwaters of technological and creative primitivity. Need Not Be. As Ayn Rand rightly brought out in one of her novels “All it takes is for a few good men to take up the cudgels”. But will Indian Shipbuilding Industry find its Few Good Men???

Naval Construction in India - A History of Corp of Naval Constructors in India

Naval Construction in India
By Cdr K.K. Varma

While browsing the Web, I came across the pdf version of this coffee table book. At first glace, the book looks impressive with a lot of ‘rare to get’ photographs, but on closer perusal it is more of style and less of substance. The Corp of Constructors should have employed the services of a professional editor rather than depend on the writing skills of a Naval Officer.

The first few pages talk about the history of shipbuilding in India. The contents are interesting and informative if not a bit jingoistic. After all, the world has not heard of any remarkable shipbuilders / ships from Ancient India.

The book then goes on to detail the progress of Naval Construction from its inception stages during the post independence era to the present days. It had started as a purely Civilian Corp akin to the Royal Corp of Constructors, but then to make it attractive to draw better talent, the brainwave decision was taken to make it a part of Uniformed Services, which in hindsight comes out as a very bad decision.

The book then speaks of the ‘so called achievements’ of the Constructor corp which are laughable and pale into insignificance when compared to the actual achievements in the field of Naval Architecture, the World over. The Indian Naval Constructors talk highly of a variant of the Leander Class which they were able to design. I had mentioned this in my previous blog on “The Autobiography of an Indian Naval Architect” about this, wherein the author had found that large ships of Similar Geometry could have lesser power requirements than a Slightly smaller ship, because of the cancellation of opposing wave fields generated by the forward and aft parts of the ship. This the author had stated as his “Eureka” moment. The other achievements of the Corp of Constructors are not worth mentioning in this review. The last few pages list out a list of achievements of officers from the Constructor Corp in local sporting and literary events of their local colleges which are hardly of any interest to anyone outside of their fraternity.

To summarize, the book gives a good background history of Shipbuilding in India in the days of yore and also the beginnings of the Corp of Naval Construction as an offshoot of RCNC. But the rest of the book is pure jingoism and not worth a read.

This book might not be of much interest to the Indian Naval Architects, but since it is freely available for download from the Net , one can peruse it , if one has the time and bandwidth.

Aspiring Naval Architects from India can go through the book to find out the “Challenging Environment” that Indian Navy offers for them to hone their skill and then to take the call whether to join the Indian Navy or hone their Naval Architecture skills elsewhere.

You can read it here.

Autobiography of an Indian Naval Architect

Autobiography of an Indian Naval Architect

By Capt Mohan Ram (Indian Navy)

I came across this book, which was mailed to me by one of the readers of this blog site and I am not sure that the author has published it or not.

The book is an interesting read, though it doesn’t cover much that is relevant to the naval architecture field. The author Mohan Ram was an ex-captain in the Indian Navy and was one of the earliest officers to join the Corp of Naval Constructors of Indian Navy, which is an offshoot of Royal Corp of Naval Constructors (UK), after India got its independence. An alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the author served the Indian Navy for a span of twenty five years. During this brief span the author had the distinction of serving in various capacities in the Dockyards and the Naval Design organizations. Though the author claims, he is one of the foremost naval architects of India, I am pretty sure that not many in the Naval Architectural world would have heard of him. He has not published any papers or made any theoretical contribution in the field of Naval Architecture. But considering the primitive state of naval architecture in India during those days, it is possibly true that the author could have been India’s foremost Naval Architect.

Notwithstanding the above, the book is an interesting read, especially from the point of historical development of India’s indigenous capabilities in the designing of ships.

The primitive state of Indian Navy’s Naval Architectural capabilities is brought out in one of the eureka moments which the author had……….

“ On a wet Saturday afternoon I was doodling on a piece of paper at home and idly wondered “what would happen, if I powered the new ship with the same power plant- two turbines of fifteen thousand horsepower each, without any change. How much would the speed drop? Was there any chance of convincing the naval staff that a small sacrifice in top speed would make the ship more economical and easier to construct?” I did a quick back-of-the envelope calculation to estimate the speed loss. To my utter surprise, the answer came out that the ship did not lose speed at all. On the contrary it would go a full knot faster, at 29 knots which the naval staff wanted! I checked the numbers again and again and could not find any mistakes in the calculation. I tried other methods for estimating the power required and found that the answer came out the same. I was elated. Perhaps this was a brilliant solution for meeting the navy’s requirement without any additional investment, using equipment being manufactured in India. I was so excited about my discovery that I could hardly sleep the whole weekend.”

“I rushed to the office on Monday and announced my discovery. No one believed me at first. I was greeted with a stony silence and most of my colleagues, thought that I had gone out of my head. I could not blame them, as my findings were totally counter-intuitive.”

“Without sounding too technical, let me simply explain how this came about. Further analysis revealed that at lower speeds the resistance to ships’ motion was primarily due to friction, in which the larger ship with about 20% greater wetted surface area (area exposed to the water) was at a disadvantage. Above 22 knots, the resistance to motion from wave making due to the ship cleaving through the sea became much more prominent than friction. If the interference between the waves created by the bow (front) of the ship and the stern (rear) of the ship were positive, resulting in a crest at the rear end, resistance due to wave making would be lower. If the interference between the bow and stern wave systems resulted in a trough at the stern, the resistance due to wave making would be higher. The interference is a function of a factor called Froude number, which relates the square of the speed of the ship to the length of the ship. In the case of the Leander at 28 knots, the interference caused a trough at the stern increasing the wave making resistance. But in the new longer ship, the interference resulted in a crest. This resulted in a lower wave resistance in the bigger ship, which more than compensated the increased drag due to greater area. Overall this led to the bigger ship going faster. Once we had done this detailed analysis the picture became a lot clearer. We also found that the same principle was being adopted in ‘jumboizing’ super tankers to by adding a new mid section, making the ships longer to carry more crude without losing speed.”

The very fact, that the obvious result that larger ships (of similar Geometric proportions) could have lesser resistance compared to ships of smaller length, because of the cancellation of the wave fields (a fact taught in the basic courses of Resistance of Ships), was such a shocking eye-opener to the Stalwarts of Indian Naval Architecture Community speaks volumes of their technical ignorance of Basic Naval Architecture and goes on to show that Mohan Ram, when he claims himself to be one of the foremost Naval architects of India, could indeed be speaking the truth.

The second half of the book deals with the author’s life as a non-practicing naval architect in the Indian Industry. Interesting, but not relevant to Naval Architects. The author claims that he was responsible for the turnaround of some loss making companies and offers some management platitudes.

“I expect this story to be of interest to senior managers of organizations facing severe competition and loss of market share and running into decline and sickness. It should provide useful insights, as it spans my experience of working in all three sectors, government, PSUs and the private sector. It should also be useful to academic institutions and students of management, as the book brings live Indian cases to light. Management consultants might find some of the events and solutions relevant and interesting. Multinational corporations and foreign institutional investors may find the narrative useful in getting a clearer understanding of the Indian psyche and corporate scene, some of its unique problems and possible approaches to their solutions.”

Overall a good book, especially for those in India in the Naval Architectural profession.

The book is not openly available in the internet as of date. I had read it, courtesy, one of my blog readers who had emailed it to me. He is one the members of a yahoo group called “Constructor County” which is a group which caters to the Naval Architecture Fraternity of India (only??? I am not sure).

However surprisingly while browsing the net, I found it here.

The author would have possibly uploaded it.

Theory of Submarine Design

Theory of Submarine Design
Yuri N. KORMILITSIN, Oleg A. KHALIZEV

• Hardcover: 340 pages
• Publisher: Riviera Maritime Media (1 Aug 2001)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0954144600
• ISBN-13: 978-0954144609

This book has been written based on the textbook "Submarine Design,which has been recommended by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation for students at institutions of higher education, specializing in "Shipbuilding". It is published in the year of a centenary anniversary. of submarine professional design in Russia.
The book is published with the permission of the authors and the consent of the St.Petertsburg State Maritime Technical University. The book explores methodological issues, theory of submarine design, general methods of submarine displacement and its trimming determination, architectural aspects and determination of principal particulars as well as some othcr issues related to submarine specific features.

Here is the link:
http://rapidshare.com/files/321721512/Theory_of_Submarine_Design.pdf.html

Analysis and Design of Marine Structures By Carlos Guedes Soares, P.K. Das

About the Book

Author(s): Carlos Guedes Soares, P.K. Das
Publisher: CRC
Date : 2009
Pages : 564
Format : PDF
OCR : Y
Quality :
Language : English
ISBN-10 : 0415549345
ISBN-13 : 978041554934

Book Description

'Analysis and Design of Marine Structures' explores recent developments in methods and modelling procedures for structural assessment of marine structures, and is a valuable reference source for academics, engineers and professionals involved in marine structures and design of ship and offshore structures.

From the Back Cover

This book is a collection of papers from MARSTRUCT 2009, the second International Conference on Marine Structures, held in Lisbon, Portugal, 16-18 March 2009, and contains the latest progress made in structural analysis of marine structures.

The MARSTRUCT series of conferences started in Glasgow, UK in 2007, and has the aim of becoming a bi-annual specialised conference dealing with Ship and Offshore Structures. The initial impetus and support for this series was given by the Network of Excellence on Marine Structures (MARSTRUCT), which brings together 33 European research groups and is now in its 6th year of funding by the European Union.

'Analysis and Design of Marine Structures' explores recent developments in methods and modelling procedures for structural assessment of marine structures:

- Methods and tools for establishing loads and load effects;

- Methods and tools for strength assessment;

- Materials and fabrication of structures;

- Methods and tools for structural design and optimisation;

- Structural reliability, safety and environment protection.

The book is a valuable reference source for academics, engineers and professionals involved in marine structures and design of ship and offshore structures.

You can download the book from here

The Wave Resistance of Ship By J.H. Michell

John Henry Michell (1863-1940) published scientific papers only between 1890
and 1902, but included in his 23 papers from that short but productive period are some of the most important contributions ever made by an Australian mathematician.
In this blog I shall concentrate on the extraordinary 1898 paper "The wave resistance of a ship," Phil. Mag.(5) 45, 106-123. There are many reasons why this paper was an astounding achievement, but perhaps the most remarkable is that the resulting formula has not been improved upon to this day. In the computer age, many efforts have been made to do so, but with little success so far. The formula itself involves a triple integral of an integrand constructed from the offset data for the ship's hull, and even the task of evaluating this triple integral is not a trivial one on today's computers; another reason for admiration of Michell's own heroic hand-calculated numerical work in the 1890's. Lack of a routine algorithm for Michell's integral has inhibited its use by naval architects and ship hydrodynamic laboratories, and there has been a tendency for it to receive a bad press based on unfair comparisons, e.g. comparison of model experiments (themselves often suspect) with inaccurate computations or computations for the wrong hull, etc. The original integral is in fact quite reasonable as an engineering tool, and some new results confirming this are shown. Improvement beyond Michell is however needed in some important speed ranges, and indications are given of recent approaches that may be promising.

I had searched for this paper everywhere, and luckily I found a website (a Russian one that too!) and I dont think it is available anywhere.
The Link is here.

Other Options for a Naval Architect

Not interested in design??? But still interested in the field of Naval Architecture!!!!!

No Problems!!!!!

Here are the other options

Construction and Repair

The task of the ship and boat builder and offshore constructor is to convert drawings and detailed specifications into real structures. A Naval Architect specialising in construction usually holds a management post, taking responsibility for the management of the whole yard or for sections of it such as planning, production or the complex operation of fitting out. There is a continuous striving to make savings with existing techniques and equipment through the adoption of new processes and practices and by better training for the work force. The Naval Architect must also organise the supply of materials and components, inspection and testing as well as the vital resources of manpower.

Repair work has much in common with construction. Naval Architects in this field become professional managers who, like the builders, need to master modern management and associated techniques. Emergency repair work often offers opportunities for ingenuity and on-the-spot improvisation, and in the offshore engineering world in particular repair frequently involves underwater technology.

Employers of Naval Architects in construction and repair include both large and small shipbuilders and repairers, and those involved in the maintenance and repair of naval ships and submarines. A large proportion of senior technical managers and executives in the UK maritime industry are those who have been educated and trained as Naval Architects.

Consultancy

As consultants, Naval Architects provide clients with engineering solutions, technical and commercial guidance, support and project management for concept design studies, new vessel constructions, refits and conversions. The variety of work provides a rewarding challenge to the Naval Architect.

Marketing and Sales

Naval Architects are employed to give professional advice and technical support to customers of the maritime industry.

Operations

Many shipping companies have technical departments in which Naval Architects are responsible for the many phases of ship and equipment procurement and for solving problems affecting the economics of maritime operations.

Regulation, Surveying and Overseeing

Naval Architects employed by Classification Societies as Ship Surveyors are engaged world-wide in evaluating the safety of ships and marine structures using the Society's Rules and those of intergovernmental organisations such as the International Maritime Organisation. Plans of ships to be built and eventually classed with the Society are scrutinised, and aspects of design such as strength, stability, and lifesaving approved before construction.

During construction, Ship Surveyors carry out inspections to ensure that the quality of the workmanship and materials used is in accordance with the Rules and Regulations. Once the vessel or structure is in service, Ship Surveyors will continue to carry out inspections to ensure that any serious defects arising from operation are made good and that a safe and seaworthy structure is maintained. Government Departments employ Naval Architects who deal mainly with the framing of safety regulations and the surveying of ships and equipment from the safety point of view.

Ship operators and the Ministry of Defence employ Naval Architects to oversee the construction and repair of their vessels.

Research and Development

Maritime research in the UK enjoys a high reputation world-wide and Naval Architects, many with post-graduate qualifications, are engaged in research in universities and industry throughout the country. Classification Societies also devote resources to Research and Development employing Naval Architects in this field.

Education and Training

Careers in engineering demand a sound education. Consequently, there is a need to attract Naval Architects with above average qualifications into Universities and Colleges as professors and lecturers.

Creativity in Naval Architecture: Ship Design

Are You creative?????
Naval Architects are by necessity creative people. They must have an understanding of the many facets of ship design - function, appearance and especially important at sea, safety. They must be team leaders, able to integrate the inputs of many others to achieve a balanced and coherent whole. Apart from the architectural aspects of ship form and layout, they must be able to use complex mathematical and physical models to ensure that the design is satisfactory technically and that it meets the safety rules and standards laid down by Classification Societies and Government Agencies.

A ship, boat or offshore structure must be stable, seaworthy and have adequate strength in all weathers as well as the hydrodynamic (and, for sailing craft, aerodynamic) performance to give economic propulsion and safe and comfortable motion in all sea states. The design process demands the extensive employment of computer based information and communication systems.

Employers of Naval Architects involved in design work include ship and boat builders, offshore constructors, design consultants, and for the ships and submarines of the Royal Navy, the Ministry of Defence. Major equipment manufacturers also employ teams of engineers, including Naval Architects, on the design of such products as propulsion systems, auxiliary systems, subsea production systems and control systems.

Career Options for a Naval Architect

Naval Architects have a wide range of employment opportunities, both in the UK and world-wide. They are involved in such a wide variety of work that it is difficult to categorise it comprehensively. However, the main areas are as follows:

• Design
• Construction and Repair
• Consultancy
• Marketing and Sales
• Operations
• Regulation, Surveying and Overseeing
• Research and Development
• Education and Training
  

Each type of work has its own distinctive character and offers opportunities for initiative and imagination in a wide variety of technical and managerial posts as well as opportunities for foreign travel. The work place may be a large company, a small group, a consultancy or a government department.

Depending mainly on the type of qualifications held and personal inclination, Naval Architects may become specialists in one field or develop broad experience in several. Eventually they may find themselves in senior executive positions using their knowledge and experience of general management as well as their professional skills in engineering and project leadership. Indeed, aided by the breadth of their education, training and experience, professional Naval Architects are successful in top management posts in government, industry and commerce quite outside the maritime field.

What's so different about being a naval architect

Why be a Naval Architect?? ?

What's so special in being a naval architect???

Why can't I be a normal software nerd??? and be a millionaire???

Well here are the answers!!!!

A Naval Architect is a professional engineer who is responsible for the design, construction and repair of ships, boats, other marine vessels and offshore structures, both civil and military, including:

• Merchant ships - Oil/Gas Tankers, Cargo Ships, Cruise Liners, etc
• Passenger/Vehicle Ferries
• Warships - Frigates, Destroyers, Aircraft Carriers, Amphibious Ships, etc
• Submarines and underwater vehicles
• Offshore Drilling Platforms, Semi Submersibles, FPSOs
• High Speed Craft - Hovercraft, Multi-Hull Ships, Hydrofoil Craft, etc
• Workboats - Fishing Vessels, Tugs, Pilot Vessels, Rescue Craft etc
• Yachts, Power Boats and other recreational craft
  

Some of these are among the largest and most complex and highly valued moveable structures produced by mankind. Without them to provide for the safe and efficient transport and recovery of the world's raw materials and products, modern society as we know it could not exist.

Modern engineering on this scale is essentially a team activity conducted by professional engineers in their respective fields and disciplines. However, it is the Naval Architect who integrates their activities and takes ultimate responsibility for the overall project. This demanding leadership role requires managerial qualities and ability to bring together the often conflicting demands of the various professional engineering disciplines involved to produce a product which is "fit for the purpose".

In addition to this vital managerial role, the Naval Architect has also a specialist function in ensuring that a safe, economic and seaworthy design is produced.

To undertake all these tasks the Naval Architect must have an understanding of many branches of engineering and must be in the forefront of high technology areas such as computer aided design and calculation. He or she must be able to utilise effectively the services provided by scientists, lawyers, accountants and business people of many kinds.

A Naval Architect requires a creative, enquiring and logical mind; the ability to communicate clearly in speech and writing with others inside and outside the engineering profession; sound judgment and qualities of leadership. The education and training given to the Naval Architect are designed to develop these skills and to lead him or her to recognised qualifications and professional status.

The Speed and Power of Ships: By D.W.Taylor

About the Book

In 1910,Admiral D.W. Taylor published his great work of Naval Architecture which would go on to become a classic in the field of Naval Architecture: "The Speed and Power of Ships," which has become internationally known to all Naval Architects as a standard book in the field of Resistance and Propulsion. In the preface Taylor sums up the purpose of this book in the following words: "The intention of this work is to treat in a consistent and connected manner, for the use of Naval Architects, the theory of resistance and propulsion of vessels and to give methods, rules and formulae which may be applied in practice by those who have to deal with such matters. The contents are based largely upon model experiments carried out in towing tanks, such as were initiated in England nearly half a century ago by Mr. William Froude and are now generally recognized as our most effective means of investigation in the
field of resistance and propulsion. At the same time care has been taken to point out the limitations of the model experiment method and the regions where it ceases to be a reliable guide." After an introductory chapter on hydrodynamics, pertinent to this subject, the book deals comprehensively with the problem of resistance to driving a ship through water, in all its aspects, with special regard to the use of small models. The results of the vast experimental work are expressed in a great number of diagrams, giving curves which represent the resistance of a series of models, derived from a parent form by variation of the principal characteristics such as beam-draught ratio, speed-length ratio, coefficients of fineness, etc. The third chapter is devoted to the difficult subject of propulsion, which is here treated in a most complete and masterly manner. It comprises the general theory of propeller action, the results of extensive series of experiments with small models, presented in numerous diagrams by curves, various special problems such as that of cavitation, and finally a full discussion of the strength and design of propeller blades. The last chapters deal with ship trials and their analysis, and with the important practical problem of powering of ships, that is, the calculation of the engine power required to drive a given ship at a certain speed.
Altogether the book is an outstanding classic in engineering literature. Taylor had the rare advantage of a brilliant mind and a natural talent for expressing himself in concise scientific language. He was never satisfied until he had reached perfection in exposition and he avoided always the pitfall of stating opinions that were not completely buttressed by facts. His talent for experimental work found the best possible opportunity for development and achievement, due to the fact that he had at his disposal and under his independent direction a well equipped experimental plant, shaped according to his own ideas and provided with an exceptionally able staff of his own selection and trained by himself. His master mind used this tool to full efficiency.

Here is the Link:
http://www.archive.org/download/speedpowerofship00tayluoft/speedpowerofship00tayluoft.pdf

The Complete Works of D.W. Taylor

Here I give the complete compendium of works/ papers/books published by D.W. Taylor. This will be of use to Naval Architects and those practising in the field of Naval Architecture

BOOKS

1893
Resistance of Ships and Screw Propulsion. Macmillan. Reprinted 1907.

1910
The Speed and Power of Ships. Two volumes. First Edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

1933
The Speed and Power of Ships. One volume. Second Edition. Ransdell Incorporated, Washington, D. C. Printed by United States Shipping Board.

PAPERS

Transactions of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers— New York

The Wetted Surface of Ships. Vol. 1, 1893.
Methods and Forms for Certain Ship Calculations. Vol. 3, 1895.
The United States Experimental Model Basin. Vol. 8, 1900.
The Theoretical and Practical Methods of Balancing Marine Engines. Vol. 9, 1901. Awarded a prize.
On Ships' Forms Derived by Formulae. Vol. 11, 1903.
Some Recent Experiments at the U. S. Model Basin. Vol. 12, 1904.
Experiments with Ventilating Fans and Pipes. Vol. 13, 1905.
Model Basin Gleanings. Vol. 14, 1906.
An Experimental Investigation of Stream Lines around Ships' Models. Vol. 15, 1907.
The Influence of Midship-section Shape upon the Resistance of Ships. Vol. 16, 1908.
Some Model Experiments on Suction of Vessels. Vol. 17, 1909.
The Effect of Parallel Middle Body upon Resistance. Vol. 17, 1909.
Some Model Basin Investigations of the Influence of Form of Ships upon their Resistance. Vol. 19, 1911.
Relative Resistances of some Models with Block Coefficient Constant and other Coefficients Varied. Vol. 21, 1913.
Some Experiments with Models having Radical Variations of After Sections. Vol. 22, 1914.
Some Experiments on Propeller Position and Propulsive Efficiency. Vol. 30, 1922.
Propeller Design Based upon Model Experiments. Vol. 31, 1923.
Comparison of Model Propeller Experiments in Three Nations. Vol. 32, 1924.

Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects—London

Ship-Shaped Stream Forms. Vol. 35, 1894. Awarded Gold Medal, 1895.
Solid Stream Forms and the Depth of Water Necessary to Avoid Abnormal Resistance of Ships. Vol. 36, 1895.
Wake Propeller Coefficients. Vol. 67, 1925.

Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute

Architecture Navale (Review). Vol. 16, 1890, No. 55, p. 600.
On a Method for Calculating the Stability of Ships. Vol. 17, 1891, No.58, p. 157-
On Determining the Inclinations of Non-Algebraic Curves from their Ordinates. Vol. 17, 1891, No. 59, p. 533.
Our New Battleships and Armored Cruisers. Vol. 27, 1900, No. 96, p. 593.
On Proposed New Type of Battleship. Vol. 28, 1902, No. 102, p. 272.
Present Status of Protected Cruiser Type. Vol. 30, 1904, No. 109, p. 145.
A Handicap on U. S. Battleships. Vol. 30, 1904, No. Ill, p. 501.
Comment on the Size of Battleships as a Function of their Speed. Vol. 33, 1907, No. 121, p. 133.
New Method for Determining the Final Diameter of a Ship. Vol. 36, 1910, No. 134, p. 501.
Influence of Trim upon Resistance of Ships. Vol. 36, 1910, No. 135, p. 665.
On Hawke-Olympic Collision. (Transcript of Official Judgment.) Vol. 38, 1912, No. 141, p. 283.
On Life Insurance. Vol. 39, 1913, No. 145, p. 349.
On Naval Aviation and a United Air Service. Vol. 47, 1921, No. 218, p. 566.
On the General Board. Vol. 48, 1922, No. 231, p. 792.
Some Reflections upon Commissioned Naval Personnel Problems. Vol. 50, 1924, No. 261, p. 1771.
Book Review: Interaction between Vessels, by R. B. Bodilly. Vol. 51, 1925, No. 266, p. 692.
Book Review: The Theory and Practice of Steering, by G. F. Leechman. Vol. S3, 1927, No. 291, p. 617.

Miscellaneous Papers and Articles

Speed Trials. Journal of American Society of Naval Engineers. Vol. 4,1892, p. 587.
Simple Explanation of Model Basin Methods. Scientific American. Vol. 97, 1907, P- 4i8.
The Science of Naval Architecture. Journal, Franklin Institute. Vol. 184, 1907, pp. 1-13. Awarded the Gold Medal.
Lesson from the Titanic Disaster. Popular Mechanics, 1912.
Maximum Parcel. Scientific American. Vol. 109, 1913, p. 51.
Calculations for Ship's Forms and the Light Thrown by Model Experiments upon Resistance, Propulsion and Rolling of Ships. International Engineering Congress, 1915, San Francisco. (Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering), pp. 1-67.
Calculations for Ships' Forms. Scientific American, Supplement. Vol. 81, 1916, pp. 182-3.
Science of Naval Architecture. Scientific American, Supplement. Vol. 83, 1917. PP- 386-7.
Some Aspects of the Comparison of Model and Full-Scale Tests. Royal Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, 1925.
The Cost of Navy Mutual Aid Insurance. Pamphlet, Navy Mutual Aid Association, U. S. Navy Department, 1914.
Present Status of the Navy Mutual Aid Association. Pamphlet, Navy Mutual Aid Association, U. S. Navy Department, 1927.
Propeller Design Developments. World Engineering Congress in Japan, 1929.
Life Insurance. The Navy Mutual Aid after Fifty Years. Pamphlet, Navy Mutual Aid Association, U. S. Navy Department, 1930.
Variation of Efficiency of Propulsion with Variation of Propeller Diameter and Revolutions. North East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders of England. Vol. 47, 1931, p. 317. Awarded the Gold Medal. 153

David W Taylor : The Greatest Naval Architect of All

David W Taylor
One of the greatest Naval Architects of all times

David Watson Taylor was born on his father's farm in Louisa County, Virginia, on March 4, 1864, the son of Henry and Mary Minor (Watson) Taylor. After elementary education at home, he was sent to Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Virginia, at the age of thirteen, the youngest boy in the college.
Upon graduation in 1881, he was appointed to the United States Naval Academy and graduated as a cadet engineer in 1885 at the head of his class, with the highest scholastic record of any graduate of the Academy up to the present time. During his fourth year at the Academy,he was not only the ranking cadet, but a member of the football and baseball teams, president of the athletic association and chairman of the "hop" committee. After three months' service on the U. S. S. Pensacola, the flagship of the European Squadron, commanded by Captain George Dewey, he was selected by the Navy Department for assignment to study at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, England. At that time there was no special course in this country for the design and construction of warships and naval machinery and for several years the Navy Department had sent young naval officers to study those subjects in England and France and later also in Germany. Taylor was ordered to England and entered the post-graduate course at Greenwich in 1885, specializing in marine engineering. He graduated from the Royal Naval College in 1888, receiving a first-class certificate, making the highest record of any English or foreign student at the College up to that time.
While at Greenwich he was appointed Assistant Naval Constructor in 1886 because of his high standing at the College. In fact, at the annual examination of his first year at the College he was awarded a first prize in a class of 24 students.
Upon his return to the United States, Taylor was assigned to duty at Cramp's shipyard in Philadelphia.
In 1889 he was a member of the board of experts considering alleged defects in the battleship Texas building at Norfolk. About the same time he assisted in preparing the designs of naval vessels for the consideration of the Board of Naval Policy. It was in those years that the upbuilding of the "New Navy" began, and Taylor took an active part in this work in several ways.
In 1891 he was promoted to the grade of Naval Constructor and from 1892 to 1894 he served as Construction Officer in the Navy Yard, Mare Island, California. In 1894 he was assigned to duty in the Bureau of Construction and Repair at Washington as principal assistant to the Chief Constructor. His connection with the designing and construction bureau of the Navy Department, thus commenced, continued throughout the remainder of his active career in the Navy. In 1898 he was ordered to Havana to arrange for and to fit the floating dry dock for towage to the United States. He was promoted to the rank of Commander in March 1899, to the rank of Captain in March 1901, and to the rank of Rear Admiral in 1917.
For about eight years, from 1914 to 1922, Admiral Taylor served as Chief Constructor and Chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair. This term included the period of the World War. In 1917 he was appointed a member of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, representing the Navy. Admiral Taylor was retired at his own request, January 15, 1923, after more than forty-one years' service.
Following his retirement, Admiral Taylor served as Secretary of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, 1923-1926, and was appointed Vice Chairman in 1927. He also served as Consultant for the Shipping Board. In 1925 Admiral Taylor became a Director of Gibbs Brothers, Inc., Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, and later with the organization of Gibbs & Cox, Inc., in 1929, he became a Director of the new firm and also Vice-President.
Admiral Taylor married Imogene Maury Morris of Louisa County, Virginia, on October 26, 1892. They had four children: Dorothy Watson, May Coleman, David Watson and Imogene Morris.
In the spring of 1932, at a time of life when he might still have rendered further valuable service to the country, Admiral Taylor was stricken with paralysis and after this tragic event he was helplessly confined to chair and bed for the remaining eight years of his life. He spent his time largely at the Naval Hospital in Washington, always under the care of his wife. He died at the hospital on July 28, 1940.

Taylor as a Naval Architect and Scientist

Even in the earliest years of his career, Taylor produced original work of practical and scientific value. He critically investigated the various methods of "ship calculation" for the determination of displacement as well as the characteristics of buoyancy and stability and formulated a method of calculation which became the standard for the Navy.
In 1893 he wrote his first book entitled: Resistance of Ships and Screw Propulsion, a subject which was to become his life's principal work. This book formed the foundation for his later more complete and classical volume to be described below.
In 1894 Taylor read a paper entitled: "Ship-shaped Stream Forms," before the British Institution of Naval Architects, in which was revealed his high analytical ability and capacity for original mathematical research. This paper was awarded the gold medal of the Institution in 1895, the first time this honor was bestowed on an American. Taylor brought to the attention of the naval authorities the great handicap under which the naval designers of the United States labored through lack of experimental facilities, notably a model basin for experimentation with small ship models, such as possessed at that time by several foreign governments and private establishments. His persistent advocacy and convincing arguments for the need of such facilities led to the appropriation of funds for the establishment of the Experimental Model Basin at the Washington Navy Yard. The details of the design of the Model Basin and its actual construction were placed under the immediate supervision of Taylor and the basin was completed and ready for operation by 1899. He then began an extensive and systematic series of experiments and investigations on the subject of resistance to the propulsion of ships and on the action of propellers, which continued under his immediate direction up to the time of his appointment as Chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair in 1914. The results of
these systematic investigations were scientifically analyzed and tabulated, and from time to time conclusions deducible therefrom, with supporting data, were published in various papers, mostly in the Transactions of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, of which he was one of the founders.
In 1910, the extensive research work performed by Taylor up to that time, in connection with the model basin, was published in his great work: "The Speed and Pozver of Ships," which has become internationally known as the standard book on this subject. In the preface Taylor sums up the purpose of this book in the following words: "The intention of this work is to treat in a consistent and connected manner, for the use of students, the theory of resistance and propulsion of vessels and to give methods, rules and formulae which may be applied in practice by those who have to deal with such matters. The contents are based largely upon model experiments, such as were initiated in England nearly half a century ago by Mr. William Froude and are now generally recognized as our most effective means of investigation in the
field of resistance and propulsion. At the same time care has been taken to point out the limitations of the model experiment method and the regions where it ceases to be a reliable guide." After an introductory chapter on hydrodynamics, pertinent to this subject, the book deals comprehensively with the problem of resistance to driving a ship through water, in all its aspects, with special regard to the use of small models. The results of the vast experimental work are expressed in a great number of diagrams, giving curves which represent the resistance of a series of models, derived from a parent form by variation of the principal characteristics such as beam-draught ratio, speed-length ratio, coefficients of fineness, etc. The third chapter is devoted to the difficult subject of propulsion, which is here treated in a most complete and masterly manner. It comprises the general theory of propeller action, the results of extensive series of experiments with small models, presented in numerous diagrams by curves, various special problems such as that of cavitation, and finally a full discussion of the strength and design of propeller blades. The last chapters deal with ship trials and their analysis, and with the important practical problem of powering of ships, that is, the calculation of the engine power required to drive a given ship at a certain speed.
Altogether the book is an outstanding classic in engineering literature. Taylor had the rare advantage of a brilliant mind and a natural talent for expressing himself in concise scientific language. He was never satisfied until he had reached perfection in exposition and he avoided always the pitfall of stating opinions that were not completely buttressed by facts. His talent for experimental work found the best possible opportunity for development and achievement, due to the fact that he had at his disposal and under his independent direction a well equipped experimental plant, shaped according to his own ideas and provided with an exceptionally able staff of his own selection and trained by himself. His master mind used this tool to full efficiency.
The Navy Department allowed Taylor to hold his position as scientific expert and head of the Experimental Model Basin in Washington continuously for about twenty years. This is contrary to the ordinary routine according to which officers do not hold the same commission or office for more than four years. Thus Taylor was given the opportunity of continuous and consistent study and research, and the outcome was a work of rare excellence and value.
In 1933 a second revised edition of his book was published, following closely the same principles in mode of presentation, but containing much new material, largely based on experimental data from the model basin, accumulated since the publication of the first edition in 1910. The new edition was prepared with the assistance of Lieutenant Commander A. S. Pitre (CC), U. S. Navy, the Admiral's capacity for work being at that time impaired by his illness. The book has placed ship designers of all countries under a great and lasting obligation to Admiral Taylor.
In 1909 Taylor published a paper on "Some Model Experiments on Suction of Vessels," read before the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers in New York, explaining the "suction" which tends to draw ships together when they pass close to one another. Not long after, a collision occurred between the British cruiser Hawke and the White Star liner Olympic. In the ensuing trial the British Admiralty claimed that the collision was due to "suction" and in 1911 Taylor's services as technical expert were requested by the Admiralty and were loaned by the United States Government. The decision, which was strongly influenced by Taylor's testimony, was in favor of the Admiralty's contention.
The work at the Model Basin under Taylor's guidance extended outside the field of resistance and propulsion of ships and came to comprise several other problems in engineering.
To the writer's knowledge, one of the earliest and most complete sets of experiments on the artificial ventilation of ships was that made by Taylor at the Experimental Model Basin. His experiments were conducted through a number of years and led to a rational scientific mode of design of ventilating systems, now adopted in the United States naval vessels.
In 1901 he published a paper on the balancing of reciprocating marine engines, giving the most complete analysis of the problem up to that time. An analysis and experiments were made on the problem of gyroscopic control of the rolling of vessels for the late Dr. Elmer Sperry, which proved to be most useful in the development of the Sperry control apparatus. Taylor was appointed Chief Constructor with the rank of Rear Admiral in 1914 and served in that capacity during the World War and until 1922. He was responsible for the design of an unprecedented number of vessels; actually more than 1,000 vessels, large and small, with a total displacement of about 1,200,000 tons, were built under his supervision, while in addition half a million tons of vessels were designed and begun, but discontinued or scrapped after the Washington Naval Conference of 1922.

Ship Design and Construction

Ship Design and Construction
by Thomas Lamb (Author)
Publisher: SNAME (1980)

About the Book

A Must Have for every practicing Naval Architect whether he is in the Design field, or working in the Construction of Ships in a shipyard. This book has become a Naval Architecture Classic.
The 1980 edition of Ship Design and Construction is a descendant of the Design and Construction of Steel Merchant Ships, published by the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers in 1955, and the revision of that book entitled Ship Design and Construction published in 1969. Although its antecedents covered much of the same general subject matter , the present volume has been essentially completely rewritten and thus stands alone as a significantly different form of treatise on the subject.
The emphasis has been placed upon the design and construction of ships to fulfill specific missions; throughout the text the rationale for configuring the ship to do a specific job or a specified multiplicity of jobs is highlighted. As a result, few of the chapters contained herein are directly comparable to those found in the previous editions. Additionally chapters on Load Lines, Tonnage, and Launching, previously covered in the Principles of Naval Architecture are now more logically contained within this volume as well as chapters on Contracting Arrangements and Trials and Preparations for Delivery.
A general format has been adopted that leads the reader through the derivation of mission requirements, development of conceptual and preliminary designs, including hull form and arrangements, deriving acceptable load lines, and performing tonnage calculations. Ensuing chapters deal with the overall structural design, the design of structural components, and with the selection and connection of hull materials. With these basic elements decided upon, the more detailed aspects of design are treated including hull outfit and fittings, and cargo handling techniques and equipment for dry, liquid, and hazardous cargoes. The final design aspects wind up with treatments of maneuvering, navigation, and motion control, techniques for controlling the interior environment of the ship, and methods and materials for preservation of the hull. In making the transition from design to construction, the various stages of cost estimating, contracts, and governmental oversight are discussed followed by a detailed explanation of the equipment and techniques involved in ship construction. The various processes used in ship launching, including the most modern methods of transferring a vessel from the building site to a waterborne condition, are described and launching calculation techniques are delineated. The volume concludes with a discussion of ship trials and the final preparations required for delivery from the shipyard to the owner.
In this 1980 edition, the 1969 edition Glossary has been significantly expanded to cover all unfamiliar terms used in both design and construction of ships rather than only the construction terms defined previously. Acronyms, abbreviations, and symbols have been defined as they appear within the text instead of the previous practice of including them in separate tables. In general, the symbols used are in accordance with the 1963 International Towing Tank Conference Committee on the Presentation of Data.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 : MISSION ANALYSIS AND BASIC DESIGN
[Introduction - Mission Requirements - Concept Design - Steps in the Preliminary Design Process - Summation and Adjustment - Design Philosophy]
Chapter 2 : MISSION IMPACT ON VESSEL DESIGN
[Introduction - Commercial Ships - Industrial Vessels - Service Vessels]
Chapter 3 : GENERAL ARRANGEMENT
[General - Cargo Spaces - Crew and Passenger Spaces - Machinery Spaces - Tanks - Relationship Between Spaces and Access - Miscellaneous Factors - Ship Types]
Chapter 4 : LOAD LINE ASSIGNMENT
[General - Considerations Affecting Freeboard - Load Line Calculation - Conditions of Assignment - Seasonal, Fresh-Water, and Timber - Freeboard Marks - Domestic Load Lines - Subdivision Load Lines]
Chapter 5 : TONNAGE MEASUREMENT
[Introduction - History Leading to the 1969 Convention - International Convention on Tonnage Convention Measurement of Ships, 1969 - Precautions to Minimize Adverse Economic Impact of the Tonnage
Chapter 6 : ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF PRINCIPAL HULL STRUCTURE
[ShipTypes - Framing Systems - Development of Ship Types - Design Loads - Stresses and Deflections - Application of Classification Rules - Other Design Criteria and Procedures]
Chapter 7 : STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS
[The Function of Ship Structural Components - Design Philosophy and Procedures - Relation of Structure to Molded Lines - Structural Alignment and Continuity - Sections Used for Frames, Beams and Stiffeners - Transverse Frame Spacing - Longitudinal Framing - Double-Bottom Construction - Single-Bottom Construction - Shell Plating - Deck Plating - Transverse Side Framing - Transverse Deck Beams - Bulkhead Stiffeners and Plating - Pillars, Girders, and Hatch Coamings - Machinery Casings - Superstructures and Deckhouses - Foundations - Bow and Stern Structures - Bossings and Struts - Bilge Keels and Fenders]
Chapter 8 : HULL MATERIALS AND WELDING
[Prefacing Remarks - Material Properties and Tests - Structural Steels - Special Steels - Nonferrous Alloys - Non-Metallic Materials - Joining Metallic Materials - Qualification Tests - Nondestructive Evaluation - Miscellaneous Processes]
Chapter 9 : HULL OUTFIT AND FITTINGS
[Closures for Hull Openings - Deck Fittings - Hold sparring, Ceiling, and Gratings - Deck Coverings - Joiner Bulkheads, Linings, Ceiling, and Insulation - Stewards Outfit - Lifesaving Systems - Pilot Boarding]
Chapter 10 : CARGO HANDLING-DRY CARGO
[Introduction - The General Cargo Ship - Containerships - Barge Carrying Vessels - Roll-on/Roll-off Ships - Heavy Lift Ships - Bulk Cargo Handling]
Chapter 11 : DESIGN FOR TRANSPORT OF LIQUID AND HAZARDOUS CARGOS
[Introduction - Cargo-Variety and Characteristics - Transport of Liquid Cargos - Design Requirements]
Chapter 12 : SHIP MANEUVERING, NAVIGATION AND MOTION CONTROL
[Maneuvering Systems - Navigation and Control Systems - Ship Motion Control]
Chapter 13 : CONTROL OF THE SHIP'S INTERIOR ENVIRONMENT
[Introduction - Ventilation Systems - Air Conditioning Systems - Acoustical Habitability - Vibrational Habitability]
Chapter 14 : HULL PRESERVATION
[Introduction - Objectives of a Hull Preservation and Maintenance Program - Corrosion - Fouling - Preservation Design - Selection of Preservation and Maintenance Systems - Planned Maintenance Programs]
Chapter 15 : SHIPBUILDING COSTING AND CONTRACT ARRANGEMENTS
[Introduction - Genesis and Framework of a Typical Contracts Ship Construction Program- General Aspects of Contracts - U.S. Government and Shipbuilding - Additional Elements of the Contracting Process - U.S. Regulatory Bodies and Construction - Financing]
Chapter 16 : SHIP CONSTRUCTION
[Introduction - Modern Shipyard Facilities - Planning and Scheduling - Lofting - Steel Ordering and Storage - Steel Cutting and Forming - Fabrication and Erection - Dimensional Control - Surface Preparation and Painting - Hull Steel Welding - Aluminum Hull Construction - Preoutfitting - General Outfitting - Machinery Installations]
Chapter 17 : LAUNCHING
[Launching Methods - Groundways - Ground Way and Sliding Way Interface and Launching Lubricants - End Launch Cradle - Side Launch Cradle - Platform Launch Blocking and Cradle - Releasing and Starting - Checking - End Launch Calculations - Side Launch Calculations - Platform Launch Calculations - Launching Tests - Instrumentation and Equipment - Launch Observations -
Launch Preparations, Crew and Schedule - Post Launch Calculations]
Chapter 18 : TRIALS AND PREPARATION FOR DELIVERY
[Testing - Stability Test - Drydocking - SeaTrials - Delivery - Guarantee Settlement]
GLOSSARY AND INDEX

The Links for free download of this Naval Architecture book is here:

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SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY IN INDIA

Background:

Shipbuilding (encompassing shipyards, the marine equipment manufacturers

and a large number of service and knowledge providers) is an important and strategic industry in a number of countries around the world. This importance stems from the fact a nation's need to manufacture and repair its own Navy and vessels that support its primary industries.
This paper presents a brief overview of the shipbuilding industry in India and the possible challenges and opportunities that Indian companies could enjoy in the future.

The Uniqueness of Shipbuilding sector:

§ The shipbuilding industry has its own distinctive feature as compared to other industries in the country. It is unique in a way that it has to sell first and construct later, unlike the auto industry or others, where one manufactures first and sells later.
§ Further shipyards get orders only if they are credible (deliver quality ships on time) and it can be credible only after successfully executing consistently under international competition.
§ Further, subjoined, it has to be globally competitive against the best yards in the world. Unfortunately, the shipyards are faced with very stiff taxes, tariff, duties, and financing charges as compared to foreign yards.
§ The deliverables of the sector involves long gestation periods and requires high cost finances over a long period.

Global Scenario:

Globally shipbuilding is a USD 20 billion industry. The global shipbuilidng order book recorded a 29% CAGR over the period of 2003 – 06. An upward trend has been witnessed in the world order book as a percentage of worldfleet indicating a strong demand outlook.

Fortunes of shipping and shipbuilding industries seem to be linked to each other or at least move in tandem. For nearly three decades in the post World War II era, both the industries were dominated by European nations and United States. Historically, shipbuilding industry suffered from the absence of global rules and a tendency of over-investment due to the fact that shipyards offer a wide range of technologies, employ a significant number of workers and generate foreign currency income (as the shipbuilding market is dollar-based and a global one).

However, high labour costs in the yards of Europe and USA, one of the major determinants in this cost competitive industry, has led to a gradual shift of the center of shipbuilding to these Asian nations over the last two decades.

Today shipbuilding has become an attractive industry for developing nations. Japan used shipbuilding in the 1950s and 1960s to rebuild its industrial structure, Korea made shipbuilding a strategic industry in the 1970s and China is now in the process to repeat these models with large state-supported investments in this industry.

The tidal shift in shipbuilding activities, from Europe to Asia, has opened up huge opportunities for Indian yards, and both public and private ship-builders are capitalizing on them

Indian Scenario:

With global shipping industry pitching for an unprecedented demand for new shipbuilding , a
window of opportunity which was not available earlier, has been created for the Indian shipbuilding industry.

The Indian shipbuilding industry had always been dogged by low capacity, poor productivity and lack of modernisation. Thanks to the gradual shift of shipbuilding from Europe to Asia, today contrary to expectations the Indian Shipbuilidng order books stand at 1.3 million DWT. This has been possible on account of the shipbuilding boom and both foreign/Indian Shipping Companies are coming forward to place new building orders on Indian Yards. This has enabled the industry’s order books to grow from Rs 1500 crs in 2002 to Rs 14,000 crs (roughly 3060 m $) in 2006


The Indian shipbuilding industry is on a high growth trajectory and is expected to grow at a compounded growth of 30%. Though India has not yet become a significant player in the global shipbuilding business, it has gained a strong foothold in the niche offshore segment.

India’s share in the world market has gone from an insignificant low of 0.1% in the beginning of 10th Plan to 1.3% in 2006. Hence from an an inward looking industry dependent on government orders, the Indian shipbuilding industry is emerging as internationally competitive export led industry.

Nevertheless, the industry is still in its nascent stage and dependent on government support for subsidy. The industry is expected to become self sufficient in 10 years time and will no longer require subsidy thereafter. It is clear from the above that India can grow in the shipbuilding sector
in a healthy manner if shipbuilding is recognized as a strategic industry and if it can enjoy simple taxation policies with a fully empowered regulating body for quick decision-making .

Tracking India’s performance:

India has 23 shipyards, of which 7 are under administrative control of the central government, 2 with state governments, and the rest in the private sector.

The current shipbuilding capacity of India is only 2,81,000 DWT, which is quite undersized according to global shipbuilding standards, and inadequate given the country's requirements. A comparison of productivity shows that while China may be well ahead of India in total ship building, it’s productivity is almost the same as India and this is one area that India can take a lead on the strength of its IT industry and setting up new modern shipyards.

Country Completions M DWT Employees Productivity DWT Person
Japan (2004) 23.2 80,000 290
Korea (2004) 23 71,800 320
China (2004) 8.8 158,000 56
India (2006) 0.6 12,000 50

Comparing India and China:

A comparison of productivity between India and china shows that while China may be well ahead of India in total ship building, it’s productivity is almost the same as India and this is one area that India can take a lead on the strength of its IT industry and setting up new modern shipyards.

China India
Shipbuilding & Repair Yards 492 28
Manufacture of Equipment 148 Not Known
No of Employees 2,87,702 (total industry) 12,000
Orderbook 40 m DWT 1.3m DWT
Global share 19 - 20% 1%

China has been gaining almost 2% of the world’s share every year. India has a lot of catching up to do.

The growth of Chinese shipbuilding industry is now becoming a threat to almost all major shipbuilding nations as China is planning to become the leading shipbuilding nation with an aim to corner more than 30% global share by 2015. India is probably the only country that will be able to match the Chinese prices with its relatively low labour costs and industrial base for manufacture of equipment.

The fact however remains that India’s contribution is tending towards being a significant component in the global shipbuilding industry and that we need to get our act together to use this very promising window of opportunity. With the exponential growth in the number of ships calling on Indian ports, providing ship-repair facilities is becoming an increasingly attractive opportunity. Not only does ship-repair and building activity help generate substantial local jobs, it also builds the capacity of local industry.

Stakeholders in Indian Shipbuilding sector:

Government:
§ FDI: the government has permitted 100% FDI in shipbuilding and ship repair activity
§ Investments: the government has proposed to invest INR 71.95 billion in the shipbuilding industry, towards the modernization of infrastructure and development of a research design base
§ XI plan outlay:
Name of shipyards/schemes Government Budgetary Support (INR million) Internal and External Budgetary Support Total
Cochin Shipyards 400 5,500 5900
Setting up of two International size Shipyards 15,000 15,000 30,000
R&D schemes in Shipbuilding 2,018 NA 2,018
Conducing Studies 190 NA 190
Total 20,608 23,520 44,128
Private Players:
Indian corporates and shipyards plan to invest over 170 billion INR over the next 5-7 years that has the potential to take india’s share to over 3% to 5% of global shipbuilding.
Indian business is convinced that India has a major comparative advantage in ship-building that has been masked all these years by an inefficient public sector notorious for high costs and time overruns. The labour cost per worker in India is estimated at $1,192 per year, against $10,743 and $21,317 per worker in leading shipbuilding countries like South Korea and Singapore. Apart from skilled welders and fitters, India has world-class naval engineers and architects. These, along with top-class management,
can make India a global power.

Watching the Indian Shipbuilding Market:
Key players:

Key issues and challenges:


The Indian Government has been trying various promotional and subsidy measures since the 70’s which managed to keep the industry alive at a time when the global industry was passing through a deep recession after the boom of the 70’s which, the country missed due to lack of industrial growth.

The shipbuilding industry is now witnessing a growth phase after a gap of almost 25 years. This is an opportunity for India to revive its shipping industry and bring it at par with the rest of the world.
It is essential for India to put together strategies, which could lead to optimal and effective contribution towards the global shipbuilding industry. Infact the time is just ripe for India to carve a niche in this sector. However in order to achieve this objective, it would be imperative to address concern areas which could be detrimental to the future progress of the sector:

Procedure governing subsidy support: with Indian shipyards suffering systemic and scale disadvantages, the policy of GOI to extend subsidy support to Indian shipbuilders enabled them to effectively compete in the global market. However, after expiry of the subsidy scheme, even as its renewal is under construction, there is a need to ensure that that prescriptive procedures governing eligibility to receive subsidy are removed. These include necessity to win an order through international bidding or certification from the ship owner that the bid process had been followed before selecting the Indian shipyard, which effectively ensure that the benefits of the subsidy scheme are not realized by the private ship-owners as most of their ship building orders are through negotiations

Deficient infrastructure: Indian yards lack the capability to build large and modern ships. Presently, the Cochin shipyard is the only one that has the capability to build large and modern ships. While the government has provided subsidies to shipyards but it has to ensure that the benefits reach the private players as well

Disadvantages accruing from small scale of operations: the shipbuilding sector in China and South Korea have received government fiscal and policy support, enabling them to develop scale as well as a cluster of ancillaries. These advantages of scale are not available to Indian shipbuilding industry, which imports most of its input materials and is therefore unable to leverage advantages offered by bulk purchases and Just in Time supplies. As a result there is significant cost disadvantages on account of import dependence which eat into low labor cost advantages of Indian shipbuilders.

Lack of ship design and limited investment in R&D: Indian players need to work hard to meet the international players in ship automation and technology

Benchmarking it to international standards: The Indian shipbuilders must focus on benchmarking their own processes to international standards to improve the efficiency, delivery time, price and quality, which will in turn, will enhance the competitiveness of the shipbuilding sector. Measures such as performance incentives, PPP models, etc could be introduced to improve efficiency.

Supporting the growth of ancillary industries: Ancillaries need to develop along with the shipbuilding industry as they are the key competitive differentiator for establishing/relocating shipbuilding and shiprepair facilities. A cluster development approach for building ancillary capacity could be adopted.

Training and human skills issues: Development of training programs in various academies to produce high quality talent should be prime focus

No tariff protection from imports

Multiple clearances: As the industry Is dynamic and cyclical in nature these clearances result in procedural delays and hampers augmentation of capacity

(a) Presently there is no supervisory Authority/Apex body

(b) High customs and excise Duty on capital investment: The government levies 35% duty on all capital equipments such as cranes, plasma cutting machines, and other material handling equipment purchased for running a shipyard

(c) Duty on sale of ships to Indian Shipping Companies: The materials and parts imported for building ships are exempted from payment of custom duties but these ships once built are treated as imported ships and a custom duty of 5.0% is levied on them

(d) Onerous Tax Structure: Indian shipyards are subject to 19 different taxes/ duties. These taxes cumulatively put Indian shipyards at a disadvantage and diminish their cost competitive as compared to the international players

Growth Enablers:

The growth in overall trade, increase in offshore drilling activity, and demand from the naval force and coastal guards are the key growth drivers for the Indian shipbuilding industry.

Leveraging labor cost advantage: In India, labor cost per worker per year of USD 1,192 is very low, when compared with USD 10,743 and USD 21,317 in South Korea and Singapore respectively

Offshore segment: As the proven oil and gas reserves are likely to meet the global energy requirements only till 2030, there is increased exploration and production (E&P) activity, particularly in the offshore segment. This is expected to drive the demand for OSVs.



Indian shipyards have carved a niche in the construction of OSVs. Approximately 70.0 % of Bharti’s and ABG’s order book is directed towards the oil and gas sector. Globally India has one of the largest OSV order books. Industry leaders, Korea and Japan have limited OSV capacity, resulting in a shift towards India

Replacement Demand:
40% of the Indian owned fleet is more than 20 years old and Indian owners will need to spend about $ 4 billion to replace these in the next 5 years.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has mandated the phasing out of all single hull vessels by 2010. Single hull tankers constitute 15.8% of the total vessels

SWOT Analysis:

Recommendations:

§ Dedicated SEZ for integrated and clustered development of Shipbuilding sector in India.
§ Encourage Design capability and R&D through fiscal benefits as given to R&D investment in pharmaceutical sector.
§ Exemption of Service Tax on Shipbuilding and Ship Repair.
§ Constitution of an apex body to regulate the working of the sector.

Conclusion:

Worldwide the shipyards are full and the world is turning to India to meet its requirements. After all, China and India have the skills and cheap steel to make the best and cheapest ships.

The successful shipbuilding industrial development of Japan, Korea and China has not happened by chance but by a carefully crafted policy where the government has provided the core administrative guidance and support. Such an integrated policy initiative would be required for the revitalisation of the Indian ship repair industry as well so that conditions are created for the Indian firms to become technological leaders instead of followers, through promoting competition, cooperation and even acquisition and Joint Ventures with leading foreign yards.