India’s Cochin Shipyard to Work With Synergy Marine to Grow Commercial Work
As the latest step in the efforts to expand India’s role in commercial shipbuilding and repair, the state-owned Cochin Shipyard, which is the largest builder in India, signed an agreement with global ship manager Synergy Marine. The companies look to share expertise to support the growth of the business for both newbuilds as well as vessel engineering and conversion projects.
Synergy Marine Group and Cochin Shipyard Limited signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly pursue shipbuilding, repair and conversion projects in India. The MoU covers joint business development in ship repair, conversion, newbuilding, module fabrication, and oil and gas projects. It also provides for mutually agreed technical and strategic advisory support to CSL’s newbuilding activities, including project planning, execution, and quality assurance.
The MoU provides a framework to combine CSL’s industrial capacity with Synergy’s experience in owners’ representation, engineering, project management and long-term technical management across shipbuilding and ship repair.
Jesper Kristensen, Group CEO of Synergy Marine Group, highlights the group’s experience in working with shipowners’ requirements for engineering and project execution. “Combining that experience with CSL’s industrial capabilities gives us a practical basis to develop shipbuilding and conversion opportunities in India, with decisions guided by safety, reliability and total cost of ownership.”
Synergy reports it has supported the delivery of more than 250 newbuilding projects, and its current portfolio of newbuilding assignments covers more than 150 vessels under construction at 20 shipyards across six countries. The group also has experience in converting LNG carriers into floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), alongside engineering studies for floating storage and LNG bunkering applications. Its conversion experience includes feasibility studies and engineering design, equipment procurement, site supervision and commissioning, supported by preparation for safe operations and subsequent technical management.
Cochin Shipyard, which was launched in 1972, is a shipbuilding and ship repair company based in Kochi. It has been using its capacity for defense projects for India but is now expanding its commercial projects for customers in India and overseas.
The agreement with Synergy Marine follows a series of other steps, including an agreement with Singapore’s Seatrium for offshore projects and a recent joint venture agreement with DP World’s Drydocks World.
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The yard signed an agreement in February 2026 with the French CMA CGM Group, which committed to build six feeder-sized vessels, each with a capacity of 1,700 TEU. The vessels, which will be LNG-powered, will be the first India has built for an international shipping company. Cochin has also been exploring opportunities with Maersk, which is likely to start with ship maintenance while the government has been courting more international investment and assignments for its shipbuilding sector.
The Indian government has declared a goal of being among the top ten global shipbuilding nations by 2030. By 2047, it wants to be among the top five shipbuilding nations.
