Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers. Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd, abbreviated as GRSE, is one of India's leading defence shipyards, located in Kolkata. It builds and repairs commercial and naval vessels. GRSE also exports the ships that the company builds.

Founded in 1884 as a small privately-owned company on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, it was renamed as Garden Reach Workshop in 1916. GRSE was nationalised by the Government of India in 1960. The company was awarded the Miniratna public sector undertaking status, with accompanying financial and operational autonomy in September 2006. GRSE is the first Indian shipyard to build 100 warships.

Facilities
GRSE has ship building facilities in Kolkata and a diesel engine plant in Ranchi.

It has a large computer-aided design (CAD) centre for ship modelling and design. There are four workshops for plate preparation and steel fabrication.

GRSE has a dry dock for ships up to . It has a building berth and two slipways for hull construction. It has a covered all-weather non-tidal wet basin for fitting-out medium and small ships and another fitting-out complex for ships with three berths alongside. In addition, it has two river jetties for berthing smaller vessels up to  in length. GRSE has engine assemble, test, repair and overhaul facilities in Ranchi, which acquires 62 acres of land.

GRSE and Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata (SMPK) have inked a long-term concession agreement for GRSE to operate 3 dry docks. Here, GRSE undertakes multiple dry dock repairs of ships up to 160 m length, 20 m beam, and 7 m draught. These docks are situated inside a wet basin, which allows for docking and undocking operations independent of river tidal requirements. The wet basin also has multiple berthing facilities for afloat maintenance and refit operations.

On 1 July 2006, GRSE acquired the loss-making Rajabagan Dockyard (RBD) of Central Inland Water Transport Corporation (CIWTC). RBD's facilities with its  waterfront helped alleviate some of GRSE's space constraints and increase its production capacity.

As of 2011, the shipyard was undergoing a  upgrade programme, expected to be completed by March 2012. The second phase of the upgrade programme was scheduled to commence from June 2013.

Vessels built

Commercial vessels
Among commercial and scientific ships, GRSE builds oceanographic and hydrographic research vessels, marine acoustic research ships, non-propelled dredgers, grab hopper dredgers, trailing suction hopper dredgers, tugboats, and bulk carriers.

On July 16, 2024, GRSE signed a contract with the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, for construction of an advanced Ocean Research Vessel (ORV).

On 29 October 2024, Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) under DRDO placed an order for a new Acoustic Research Ship (ARS) with the Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, Kolkata. The order worth  was signed in Kochi. The ARS will have an overall length of  and a beam of . It will be able to achieve speeds ranging up to . The ship will have a minimum endurance of 30 days or . It will have a complement of 70 personnel. The vessel will have diesel-electric propulsion and 3 deck cranes will be fitted on board to handle research equipment. The ARS will be able to deploy, tow, and retrieve a variety of equipment, including acoustic modules; conduct high-resolution surveys of sound velocity profiles in time and/or space; and gather data on ocean tides and currents for use in survey optimisation, underwater mooring design, and offshore deployments. Additionally, it will be able to launch, moor, and maintain independent sonobuoys as well as gather data from them. The ship will be able to conduct acoustic system experiments at various speed regimes while remaining silent due to its broad speed range. The ARS will also be equipped with a dynamic positioning mechanism that will enable it to hold its place until Sea State 4.

Naval vessels

As of March 2024, GRSE has designed and built 108 warships and patrol vessels for the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard for the last 63 years. Vessels built at GRSE include guided-missile frigates, corvettes, fleet tankers, fast patrol vessels, amphibious warfare vessels and hovercraft.

GRSE has built the following notable warships for the Indian Navy.

 
 s
 
 s
 s
 Patrol vessels include , , , and es.
 Landing Ship Tanks include  and es. 
 Landing craft utility vessels include  Mk. IV LCU (contract in September 2011 for ₹2,176 crore).
 Survey Vessels include Sandhayak-class (1981).

Current contracts of the Shipyard includes 8 Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft, 3 s, Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessel, Sandhayak-class survey vessel.

GRSE also undertakes ship refitting operations. Some of the notable projects of the Ship Repair Division of GRSE includes: –

 Abhay-class corvette (Indian Navy)
 Sri Lankan Navy Offshore Patrol Vessel
 MCGS Barracuda (Mauritius Coast Guard)
 PS Zoroaster (Seychelles Coast Guard)
 Indian Coast Guard Ships Sarojini Naidu, Sujay, Vijaya, Priyadarshini & Sankalp
 SMPK vessels PV Ma Ganga & CV Mahabahu

As of August 2024, GRSE is undertaking 7 ICG and 2 SMPK vessel refit.

Exports

GRSE delivered the corvette  to Mauritius on 20 December 2014. The contract was worth $58.5 million. With this, India joined the elite club of warship exporters. The Mauritius offshore patrol vessel has an integrated bridge system and cutting edge controls and main engines and can support 83 member crew. It measures  in length and  in breadth and will be capable of moving at a maximum speed of  with an approximate displacement of 1,350 tonnes.

GRSE has been short-listed for a patrol boat project for Vietnam worth  and is also bidding for an order of two frigates for Philippines.

GRSE was reported to be the lowest bidder to supply two light frigates to the Philippines. A total of four firms joined the bidding for the Philippine Navy project: GRSE; Hyundai Heavy Industries Inc. and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd., both from South Korea; and Navantia S.A. of Spain. GRSE's light frigate would have been a design based on the Indian Navy's Kamorta-class corvette.

On 22 June 2024, GRSE secured a contract for design, construction and delivery of four multi-purpose vessels (MPV) to transport windmill blades. The deal was signed by Carsten Rehder Schiffsmakler and Reederei, a German shipbuilding entity and GRSE for a value of $54 million. The vessels would displace 7,500 tonnes and will be 120 metres long and 17 metres wide with a maximum draght of 6.75 metres. GRSE secured an order of additional 4 MPVs under the "Option Agreement". This brings the total order value of $108 million for 8 ships. The contract for the construction and delivery of 5th ship was signed on 3 October 2024.

On 1 July 2024, GRSE received another $21 million order for a 800-tonne Advanced Ocean-Going Tug from the Bangladesh Navy. The tugboat will be delivered within 24 months of signing the contract. The tugboat is expected to measure 61 meters in length, about 15.80 meters in width and have a draught of nearly 6.80 meters. The order was received a few weeks after receiving an order for a Trailing Suction Hopper (TSH) dredger. GRSE also has an order of 6 patrol boats for the Bangladesh's Department of Fisheries.

See also 
 List of shipbuilders and shipyards in India
 Cochin Shipyard Limited, Cochin
 Hooghly Cochin Shipyard Limited, Kolkata
 Titagarh Wagons, West Bengal
 Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, Mumbai
 Hindustan Shipyard, Visakhapatnam
 Shalimar Works (1980) Ltd, Howrah
 Goa Shipyard
 Inland Waterways Authority of India
 Shyama Prasad Mukerjee Port, Kolkata

References

Shipbuilding companies of India
Diesel engine manufacturers
Marine engine manufacturers
Indian Navy
Government-owned companies of India
Companies nationalised by the Government of India
Engine manufacturers of India
Manufacturing companies based in Kolkata
Indian companies established in 1884
Manufacturing companies established in 1884
Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India
Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange