The Taratala Unit (TU) was set up in 1970 with the aim of indigenization and import substitution for different hull machineries & marine pumps envisaged as critical to GRSE's core shipbuilding activity and has been a pioneer in providing solutions for different classes of ships of the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard. As a part of GRSE's growth strategy, infrastructure of TU has been augmented in 2023 to add three new business verticals viz. Ship Repair Division, 30mm Naval Surface Gun Division & the Marine Valve Division to the existing Deck Machinery Division.
Deck Machinery Division
The Deck Machinery of GRSE is a vertical which provides tailor-made equipment for ships being built at different shipyards in the country. The product range includes Anchor and Mooring Capstans, Boat Davits, Helicopter Handling Systems, Miscellaneous Winches and Telescopic Helicopter Hangars of different sizes. Over the past year, the Deck Machinery Division has been reinventing its product portfolio to inject contemporary design and technology into its products. Towards this, successful partnerships have been forged with partner companies to design and develop the GRSE Helicopter Handling System (GHHS) as well as the Ground Support Equipment(GSE) for various Helicopter in use in the Indian Navy and Coast Guard. The existing portfolio has also seen improvement in design, aesthetics and technology. The national motto of "Atmanirbhar Bharat" is the core philosophy of all products being developed at TU.
Ship Repair Division
As per GRSE's strategic expansion plan and riding on its extensive shipbuilding experience of new construction vessels as well as undertaking guarantee repairs and refits of ships, GRSE has invested in a robust "Ship Repair" vertical to focus on the demand for repairs/refits in the maritime sector in India to provide coverage to Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and Commercial Vessels. A dedicated Ship Repair Division at GRSE has been setup which is focused exclusively on Repair & Refit of Ships.
A Long-Term Concession Agreement has been signed between GRSE and Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata (SMPK) for operation of 03 Dry Docks located in the Kidderpore area of Kolkata. Inclusion of this facility, has resulted in GRSE being able to take up multiple dry dock repairs of vessels up to 160 M length, 20 M beam and 7 M draught. These docks are located within a wet basin which permits docking and undocking operations without any dependency on river tidal requirements and several berthing facilities are also available within the wet basin for afloat repair/refit activities.
In the past, GRSE has undertaken refit of a Sri Lankan OPV and a challenging project involving re-engineering of INS Abhay Class ships for the Indian Navy. In the recent past GRSE has satisfactorily completed refits of 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 well as Merchant Marine Vessels Pearl 1 & Pearl 4. Presently 07 Indian Coast Guard Ships and 02 SMPK vessels are concurrently undergoing refit at GRSE with many more in the pipeline. Capability enhancement in the field of weapon system installation has also bene achieved in the Ship Repair Division with successful installation of 04 "Stabilised Remote-Control Guns (SRGC)" onboard 02 Indian Coast Guard FPVs through in-house efforts. The Ship Repair Division is also actively pursuing tenders for construction of pontoons for the Coast Guard as well as Dumb Barges for foreign clients through MoU partnerships on the West Coast of India. The Ship Repair Division has also engaged with NSRY (Karwar) and NSRY (Port Blair) for sharing of dry dock assets to undertake refits even away from home base at Kolkata.
30mm NSG Project
In GRSE's pursuit for self - reliance in defence manufacturing and to minimize imports GRSE has embarked on an ambitious project for Indigenisation of a technologically complex weapon system like the 30mm Naval Surface Gun. For this, GRSE has created yet another new business vertical for manufacture and supply of 10 Naval Surface Guns with Electro Optical Fire Control System (EOFCS) for the Indian Navy. GRSE has entered into a joint vnture with M/s BHSEL(HYderabad) for this project and an assembly set up has been established at Taratala Unit. GRSE has considerable expertise & capability for on-board installation of various Guns and engineering support for such products. The 30mm NSG will be fitted onboard small ships as its primary weapon and on large ships as a secondary weapon for engaging fast moving surface targets/threats. It is envisaged that with the technological features of this gun, all future war ship projects will be equipped with the NSG-30. The Gun is being manufactured under Buy(India) category with more than 60% indigenous content and GRSE aims to reach 80-90% indigenous content with subsequent orders.
Marine Valve Division
With extensive ship construction activity at GRSE a need has been flet for attaining self-reliance to meet the demand of Marine Hull & Line Valves for all future shipbuilding projects since hull/ line valves contribute in a major manner towards meeting the cardinal delivery dates of any shipbuilding project. This new venture aims to meet domestic requirements within GRSE as well as at other shipyards in due course.
GRSE has a very robust design department which has been associated with design of large number of platforms and has a detailed knowledge base wrt design of marine equipment, component and systems. This inherent strength will be leveraged to evolve the design of marine valves in consulation with specialist firms and manufacture of the valves will be undertaken with a qualified foundry facility with involvement of IACS. This is a very challenging project and is being pursued aggresively at Taratala Unit.