Modest Infrastructure Bhavnagar shipyard has completed construction of a fully automated 3,300 DWT product tanker, built for an Italian owner. As Times of India reports, the ship was built in a span of 20 months.

According to Mehul Patel, director (project and operations), the ship can be operated with just three crew members. Conventionally, a ship of this size would require 18 to 20 crew members.

“The specialty of this ship is that all machineries, equipments, instruments are operated by remote control. Moreover, approximately 65 km of cable has been laid in the ship to facilitate all machineries and automation in ship which has a length of 75 meters,” Patel told TOI.

“In the ship, 400 plus motorized valves have been installed to operate various piping systems from the bridge. The ship can be operated via local area network (LAN) at the harbors,” Patel added.

Modest Infrastructure Ltd, has made a head-start in Shipbuilding industry following 15 years’ rich experience in Ship Repairs, Modification and Re-commissioning of vessels. The existing shipyard in Bhavnagar has a water front of 220m with sufficient back-up land and 8 building berths. The facility is equipped to build vessels up to 6000 DWT.