The Kerala government has signed an agreement with Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) for construction of three marine ambulance boats for Fisheries department, which would be helpful in saving lives during disasters like Ockhi cyclone.
 

The marine ambulances will be used for the rescue and instant treatment of fishermen in distress. These vessels will have an approximate length of 22.5 metres, beam size of about 5.99 metres and will have a maximum speed of 14 knots, a CSL release said here. The vessel will be fuel-efficient with most modern design, designed by CSL in-house design department, it said.

"Designing of these boats had posed challenges to the yard, as these are extremely weight sensitive vessels. The boat will be built as per IRS standard," the release said. The vessel will be able to complement two patients and will have a total crew capacity of seven, including paramedical staff. The vessel will also have various paramedical facilities like examination and nursing room, medical beds, mortuary freezer, refrigerator and medical lockers.

On delivery of these vessels, it will fulfil the longstanding need for the sophisticated seaworthy rescue ambulance for rescue operations. The requirement of marine ambulance was felt during the recent Ockhi rescue operations. CSL said it presently has a robust order book in shipbuilding and ship repair.

CSL posted a turnover of Rs 2,355 crore for the financial year 2017-18 as compared to Rs 2,059 crores for the financial year 2016-17. The company posted a profit after tax of Rs 397 crore as compared to Rs 322 crore for the previous year, it said. The shipbuilding turnover for the financial year 2017-18 was Rs 1,732 crore as compared to Rs 1,516 crore for the previous year. The ship repair turnover for the year 2017-18 was Rs 623 crore as compared to Rs 543 crore for the previous year.

The company is presently constructing four passenger vessels for Andaman and Nicobar administration. CSL is also constructing the indigenous aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy and technology demonstration vessel for the Government of India. The agreement was signed by Director (Operations), N V Suresh Babu on behalf of CSL and Fisheries Department Director, S Venkatesapathy at the state Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram. Ministers J Mercykutty Amma and Kadakampally Surendran were present on the occasion, the CSL release said.