Larsen & Toubro (L&T) launched the second Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) of a series of seven OPVs for the Indian Coast Guard at the company's greenfield defence shipyard at Kattupalli, near Chennai on Saturday, January 20th, 2018.

L&T is the first private Indian shipyard to construct and deliver OPVs for the Indian Coast Guard. L&T received the prestigious order valued at Rs 14.32 billion for design and construction of seven OPVs from the Ministry of Defence in March 2015. The first OPV was launched in Oct2017 and is presently undergoing trials. The launch of the second OPV, within three months from the launch of the first vessel and with overall completion of 85%, bears testimony to L&T's proven project planning and execution capabilities.

These OPVs are long-range surface ships with helicopter operation capabilities, and their roles include coastal and offshore patrolling, policing maritime zones of India, control & surveillance, anti-smuggling & anti-piracy with limited wartime roles.
 
The OPVs are approx. 97m long, 15m wide, has 3.6m draught, 2140 T displacement with a range of 5000 NM and can attain sustained speeds of up to 26 knots. The entire design and construction processes have undergone dual certification from the American Bureau of Shipping and Indian Registrar of Shipping, and the project is being overseen by the Indian Coast Guard's resident team at Kattupalli shipyard.

L&T has achieved significant milestones in recent months in defence shipbuilding. In Dec 2017, L&T completed the delivery of all 36 nos. Interceptor Boats to the Indian Coast Guard contracted in March 2010, well ahead of contractual delivery schedule. The in-house designed and constructed Floating Dock-2 for the Indian Navy has been dispatched to Port Blair this month for final trials and handing over. This is the first time a Floating Dock has been designed and constructed indigenously.

S.N. Subrahmanyan, CEO & Managing Director, Larsen & Toubro, said, ''It is heartening to see another ahead of schedule launch of a major defence vessel at the Kattupalli shipyard. Delivery of all 36 Interceptor Boats under the first contract from the Indian Coast Guard ahead of schedule, timely dispatch of the Floating Dock-2 and timely completion of various refit orders from the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard speak volumes about L&T's stellar delivery performance. This stems from our deep-rooted ethos of nation-building and world-class ship design and fabrication capabilities. Today, we are amongst very few Indian shipyards that have the requisite capacity and financial strength to deliver complex defence vessels on time.''

Shares of the company declined Rs 1, or 0.07%, to trade at Rs 1,370.95. The total volume of shares traded was 54,475 at the BSE (9.52 a.m., Monday).