The indigenously built pollution control vessel of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), Samudra Pratap, was launched in Goa on Thursday.
The vessel, designed and built by Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) at a cost of Rs 583 crore, will help to check the oil spillage in the country’s sea coast. This is the first time that such a vessel is being designed and constructed indigenously.
Samudra Pratap, with a length of 114.5m, breadth of 16.5m, and displacement capacity of 4,170 tonnes, is uniquely designed to meet the specific requirements of ICG.
This will help the Coast Guard to conduct oil spill response operations in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and beyond. The vessel contains specialised equipment for the containment, recovery, separation, and dispersal of pollutants. It will be manned by 24 officers and 115 sailors, according to media reports.
Samudra Pratap can recover oil at a rate of 300 tonnes per hour and has a storage capacity for 300 tonnes or 1,000 tonnes in inflatable barges.
The keel laying ceremony of the ship was held in November 2022.
"‘Samudra Pratap’ is an exemplary testimony of the nation's ship-building capabilities and propels Goa Shipyard Limited into the league of Indian Shipyards capable of producing state-of-art Pollution Control Vessels," a statement from the defence ministry said.