Hindustan Shipyard launches tug for Vizag port trust

The Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) here launched a 50-tonne bollard pull tug, m.t A.W Delima, for the Visakhapatnam port trust on Wednesday, according to a press release It was launched successfully from berth number three by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust Chairman, Mr Ajeya Kallam.
It is the first of the two such tugs being built for the VPT. On the occasion, Commodore Naresh Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of the HSL, said the keels for both tugs were laid on the same day by Mr Ajeya Kallam and now the first had been launched by him. The second one would get ready for launching in a couple of months, he added. Both would be delivered by the end of the current financial year.
The CMD said, the HSL had achieved a turnover of Rs 660 crore during 2009-10, the highest ever. He asserted that the HSL was no longer a loss-making shipyard and the turnover would touch Rs 900 crore by the next year.
He expressed the hope that as the HSL had been brought under the control of the Union Defence Ministry more orders would be coming and its future would be very bright.
Mr Ajeya Kallam thanked the HSL for adhering to schedule and quality norms. The tug was named after Mr A.W. Delima, the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the VPT in the pre-independence era, for his contribution to the development of the port. He said, the VPT would continue to bank on the HSL for construction and repairs of small craft and sought the co-operation of the shipyard.
The press release added that the shipyard had so far built 166 vessels and repaired about 1,800 vessels of assorted sizes and types.