The biggest private sector shipyard of India, ABG Shipyard, will now take up the building of sub-sea vessels as it has bagged its very first order for worth $137 million. This order is going to help the ABG shipyard to not only expand, but also fortify its offshore vessel construction business. It is the UK-based Toisa, which operates its vessels through its Sealion Shipping arm that has asked ABG Shipyard to construct three sub-sea multipurpose platform supply vessels (PSVs) at $45.55 million each.

The Sealion operates a total of 24 offshore vessels and has got 10 vessels on order in a number of shipyards around the world. The sub-sea multipurpose PSVs are technical vessels used underwater for construction and repair work during exploration and production activities. Presently it is the specialized European yards where most of such vessels are constructed. Apart from Bharati Shipyard which built a PSV, no other Indian company has forayed into this segment. ABG, however, had built an offshore construction vessel CCC Pioneer for a Greek company five years ago.