Larsen & Toubro plans new shipyard

Wednesday, November 22, 2006 at 1702 hours ISTMumbai, November 22: Larsen & Toubro Ltd. plans to set up a large shipyard at a cost of about 20 billion rupees to capitalise on expected demand for vessels as international trade grows, its chairman said on Wednesday.
"We are scouting and are looking at 4-5 locations. We will decide the location by January-end," Chairman and Managing Director A. M. Naik told reporters.
The engineering and construction company is looking for land in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, he said.
"With increasing trade, there is going to be huge opportunity in shipbuilding. India needs at least 2-3 large shipyards for its own requirements," Naik said.
The company already builds ships at Hazira in Gujarat, but Naik this facility could only handle smaller vessels.
Larsen & Toubro has been involved in construction of several ports and is active in the dredging segment.
Naik said the company's revenue was expected to grow 20 percent in the year to March 2007, while its order backlog, $6.5 billion at the end of September, was likely to grow 30-35 percent over the whole financial year, in line with what the company had projected last month.
Shares in Larsen ended up 1.9 per cent at 1,373.20 rupees on Wednesday in a Mumbai market that rose 0.7 per cent.

Source EXPRESS India