OPERATIONAL CAPACITY OF DCI
BACKGROUNDER
Dredging Corporation
of India Limited (DCI), Vishakhapatanam was incorporated in March,
1976 with an authorized capital of Rs. 30 crore and its paid up
capital of Rs. 28 crore. It caters to about 78% of the maintenance
dredging needs of the country.
Modernization of
DCI is a continuous process. DCI has acquired three nos. 7400
cubic meter hopper capacity trailer suction dredgers during 1999
and 2001 with the state of art technology and fuel efficient equipment.
In case of old dredgers, DCI has been updating navigational and
dredge instrumentation with latest technology available and this
has resulted in increasing operational capacity of DCI by 30.6
million cubic meter per annum. Steps have also been taken to update
the technology on board the dredger and enhancing skill of its
staff.
The quality of
the work of DCI in respect of maintenance dredging is comparable
with foreign dredging companies. Minister of State in the Ministry
of Shipping Shri Dilipkumar M. Gandhi stated in Lok Sabha that
DCI needs to add cutter suction dredgers in its fleet and improve
the skills of staff in execution of capital dredging works. DCI
has been granted Mini Ratna status facilitating it to enter into
Joint Ventures / alliances etc. depending on the need. The Minister
further added there was scope for DCI to expand its activities
in international market particularly in the area of maintenance
dredging. During the year 2001-02, DCI had executed dredging assignment
at Taichung Harbour, Taiwan. DCI has initiated action for positioning
of Marketing Agents abroad particularly in countries like Singapore,
Malaysia, Indonesia, UAE and Behrain to promote its business.
DCI has also approached Indian Embassies in these countries for
providing necessary assistance in this regard. Steps have also
been taken by DCI to position Consultant to identify a suitable
Joint Venture/Alliance Partner to facilitate it to expand its
base outside India and acquire technical skills in capital dredging
assignment.
The capacity utilization
was 107.63% last year and the dredging operations carried out
by the corporation during the year are:
- Maintenance Dredging at Kolkata
Port, Sand trap and channel of Paradip Port, Cochin Port, Channel
and lagoon of New Mangalore Port, outer channels of Jawaharlal
Nehru Port and Kandla port;
- Capital dredging at Visakhapatnam
Port.
New contracts taken
up by DCI last year are dredging around POL jetty of M/s BPCL
at Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Mumbai and dredging in the turning circle
and in the channel of Okha Port. The company executed its first
overseas dredging assignment at Taichung-Harbour, Taiwan.
The financial results
of DCI have been consistently good. For more than a decade DCI
has been signing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Government
of India. The performance of DCI was rated "Excellent"
successively for the past several years.
