Cochin Shipyard: What Kochi's Own Shipyard Actually Builds
Cochin Shipyard built India's first aircraft carrier and keeps launching Navy vessels every few weeks. Here is what the yard at Perumanoor actually builds, from warships to bulk carriers.
Drive along the harbour road past Perumanoor and most people barely glance at the grey cranes on the far bank. That is a mistake. What sits behind those cranes is the yard that built India's first indigenous aircraft carrier, and it has been the single most important industrial site in the city for over fifty years without ever throwing a party about it. Cochin Shipyard does not advertise. It just keeps building.
What is Cochin Shipyard, exactly?
Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) is a Government of India company, incorporated in 1972 and headquartered at Perumanoor in Kochi, across the water from Willingdon Island. It was built as India's first Greenfield shipyard, meaning it was designed and constructed from scratch rather than expanded from an older colonial-era dock, and it remains the country's largest shipbuilding and repair yard. The government has been gradually trimming its stake since CSL's 2018 stock market listing, most recently through a share sale in July 2026, and now holds a little under 68 percent of the company's equity. CSL has carried Miniratna status, a category reserved for well-performing central public sector companies, since 2008.
What does Cochin Shipyard actually build?
The honest answer is almost everything that floats. CSL's order book runs across defence and commercial work at the same time, which is unusual for a single yard.
- Aircraft carriers: CSL built INS Vikrant, India's first indigenous aircraft carrier, commissioned by the Indian Navy on 2 September 2022.
- Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft: an eight-vessel Mahe-class programme for the Navy. The second ship, INS Malwan, was delivered in March 2026, and the seventh, Machilipatnam, was launched on 29 July 2026.
- Commercial vessels: bulk carriers, platform supply vessels and anchor handling tug supply vessels built for shipping companies in India and abroad, including a mini bulk carrier order for the JSW group.
- Government fleets: floating border outposts for the BSF and ROPAX and RO-RO passenger-and-vehicle ferries for the Inland Waterways Authority of India.
- Ship repair: CSL's repair division, running since 1982, has handled dry-dock work on the aircraft carriers INS Viraat and INS Vikramaditya alongside routine maintenance for merchant ships.
How big is the yard, and what can it build?
The current facility carries 300-tonne and 150-tonne gantry cranes, a dedicated hull shop, plasma cutting and aluminium welding lines, and its own testing laboratory. CSL is now adding a new dry dock measuring 310 by 75/60 by 13 metres with a 600-tonne gantry crane, alongside an International Ship Repair Facility being developed at Cochin Port Trust, a bet that ship repair, not just shipbuilding, is where the next phase of growth sits. The yard also runs repair operations outside Kerala, in Mumbai and Kolkata, plus a Port Blair unit that has been operating since 2021.
Why does a shipyard need its own engineering college?
CSL's Marine Engineering Training Institute (METI) runs a 12-month course for graduate mechanical engineers, feeding trained hands straight into the yard and into merchant navy careers. It is a reminder that shipbuilding in Kochi is not just steel and cranes; it is one of the more reliable sources of skilled industrial jobs in the district, in the same way Kakkanad's tech offices are for software workers.
What is Cochin Shipyard building right now, in 2026?
The order book this year has been unusually visible. CSL launched the seventh of its eight ASW Shallow Water Craft on 29 July 2026, then delivered a second multi-purpose vessel, MS Maria, on 12 August 2026, roughly two weeks later. That is a defence ship and a commercial ship moving down the same slipways within a fortnight of each other, which is roughly the pace CSL has held for the past few years and the reason its order book keeps growing even as global shipbuilding consolidates into a handful of countries.
Why this matters beyond Kochi
Every carrier and corvette that leaves Perumanoor is a line in India's defence self-reliance push, the kind of institutional fact that gets mentioned in Parliament and mostly ignored on the ground here. But it also means Kochi holds something few Indian cities do: a yard capable of building the Navy's largest ships from keel to commissioning, sitting a short drive from the metro and the business directory of firms that supply it. Next time you cross the Goshree bridges and spot a grey hull under the cranes, you will know it might just be the Navy's next warship taking shape.
Quick reference
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1972, Government of India company |
| Location | Perumanoor, Kochi 682015 |
| Status | Miniratna since 2008; Government holds just under 68% equity as of mid-2026 |
| Landmark build | INS Vikrant, commissioned 2 September 2022 |
| Current defence programme | 8 Mahe-class ASW Shallow Water Craft for the Navy |
| Repair division | Running since 1982; has repaired INS Viraat and INS Vikramaditya |
Written By
Haila Kochi Editorial Team
Part of the Haila Kochi editorial team, covering the food, business, lifestyle, and people that make Kochi what it is.
