Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) is a public sector undertaking shipyard located in Visakhapatnam, on the east coast of India. HSL is a major shipyard in India, with a capacity to manufacture vessels up to 80,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT). The shipyard is the 2nd biggest after Cochin Shipyard.
Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) is a public sector undertaking for defence ship building located on the West Coast of India at Vasco da Gama, Goa. It was established in 1957, originally by the colonial government of the Portuguese in India as the "Estaleiros Navais de Goa", to build barges to be used in Goa's growing mining industry, which took off after the establishment of India's blockade of Goa in 1955. In the wake of Portugal's defeat and unconditional surrender to India following the 1961 Indian annexation of Goa, it was requisitioned to manufacture warships for the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard.
GSL is undergoing a modernisation of its yard to adapt to the latest technology in shipbuilding. To this purpose it is negotiating with well-known shipbuilders for an arrangement to collaborate. To date it has built 167 vessels, including barges, tugs, landing craft, offshore patrol vessels and other vessels for the Indian Navy and Coast Guard and for export to countries like Yemen.Goa Shipyard unlike Cochin Shipyard and Hindustan Shipyard cannot manufacture big vessels of capacity above 15,000 DWT, the average Deadweight Tonnage (DWT) capacity of a ship worldwide is around 60,000 to 80,000 DWT.
Visakhapatnam (/vɪˌsɑːkəˈpʌtnəm/; formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is between the Eastern Ghats and the coast of the Bay of Bengal. It is the second largest city on the east coast of India after Chennai, and the fourth largest in South India. It is one of the four smart cities of Andhra Pradesh selected under the Smart Cities Mission and is the headquarters of Visakhapatnam district. Vizag is popularly known as shipbuilding capital of India due to presence of multiple shipyards such as Hindustan Shipyard, Naval Dockyard and being the central naval command of the east coast. As the economic hub of Andhra Pradesh, the city hosts diversified economy with the presence of heavy industries, ports, logistics, pharmaceuticals, medtech, biotechnology, energy production, tourism, textiles, R&D and a growing information technology & financial technology ecosystem. It is also described as the City of Destiny and the Jewel of the East Coast.
Visakhapatnam's history dates back to the 6th century BCE. Historically considered part of the Kalinga region.The city was ruled by the Andhra Satavahanas, Vengi, the Pallava, Eastern Ganga dynasties and Gajapati dynasty. Visakhapatnam was an ancient port city which had trade relations with the Middle East and Rome. Ships in Visakhapatnam were anchored at open roads and loaded with cargo transported from the shoreside using small masula boats. A reference to a Vizagapatnam merchant is available in the inscriptions of Bheemeswara temple (1068 CE) in the East Godavari District. During the 12th century CE, Vizagapatnam was a fortified mercantile town managed by a guild. European powers eventually established trade operations in the city, and by the end of the 18th century it had come under French colonial rule. Control of the city passed to the East India Company in 1804 and it remained under British colonial rule until Indian independence in 1947.