The activities and professional expertise of the Group can be broadly classified under the following business segments :-
Let's take a bird’s eye view of some of the most notable projects and services accomplished by the Group over the past two and half decades :-
LOTS group was awarded the Contract of Affreightment (CoA) to ship 350,000 MT of Rock Phosphate from Morocco to India. To execute the CoA, a Panamax Bulk Carrier instead of the normal Handymax was used. LOTS-India had the challenging task of lightening the gearless Panamax at the Cochin Outer Anchorage to bring down its draft by 4 metres, thus allowing the vessel to enter the port.
The pipeline transport logistics for the Cochin Single Point Mooring (SPM) project of Kochi Refineries Limited (KRL) belonging to the Indian petroleum and oil refining giant Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, was carried out by LOTS-India. The task was to transport 1,560 Nos. Of 48” dia concrete coated pipes from Mundra to Cochin, store them in the port and distribute the pipes to the offshore locations for the sub-sea laying.
India Gateway Terminal Pvt. Limited (DP World, Cochin) awarded a turnkey project to LOTS-India, to relocate 2 Nos. Mobile Harbour Cranes(MHC) and 4 Nos. Rubber Tyre Gantry (RTG) from their old facility at Rajiv Gandhi container Terminal (RGTC) to their new facility at International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICCT) at Vallarpadom.
A Vacuum Gas Oil (VGO) Reactor for the capacity expansion plan for the Kochi Refineries Limited (KRL) was built in China and shipped to Cochin by the heavy-lift ship M.V. Maria. The 750-Ton heavy, 37-metre long, 5.2-metre diameter Reactor is the biggest single piece of machinery handled in the country.
Unloading arms (ULAs) is the most important and critical unit equipped in the LNG receiving terminal, requiring a high stability standard for its installation to avoid any potential damage or leakage during the unloading of LNG from ship. Usually these ULA's are installed placing cranes on the jack-up barge. However, the sub-soil under seabed at Cochin LNG site could not hold the jack-up barge.
Master Shipyard Private Limited, an associate company of LOTS-India, entered into an agreement with Tristar Energy for River Transport Limited, Khartoum- Sudan, for the construction and launching of a 28-M Pusher Tug [TRISTAR NILE] on the White Nile in Sudan. The hull of the Tugs was fabricated in 20 modules at Master Shipyard, Cochin, and shipped to Port Sudan by sea.
2 Nos. Pusher Tug (PT) boats for the Yemeni Coast Guard were discharged at Djibouti Port from the ship M.V. Marilyn. The biggest challenge was positioning the crane vessel M.V. Jan’s derricks to properly hook up the boats as there was almost no margin for hook height clearance.The outfitting work, sea trials etc.
A fishing boat ‘Neethiman’ sank in the shipping channel between Vypeen and Fort Kochi in the morning of 19th September 2017. The mishap occurred when the boat, which developed a crack in its hull, was being towed to the harbour using another boat engaged by Marine Enforcement wing of the Government of Kerala.
M.T. NU SHI NALINI (the Vessel), owned by Arya Ship Charterers Private Limited and managed by Elektrans Shipping Private Limited, is a double-hull oil & chemical tanker, built in 2012 by Jiangsu Longhai Shipbuilding Company Limited in Jiangsu, China. She is constructed with six (6) pairs of cargo tanks, port/starboard, and two (2) slop tanks port/starboard, all forward of the accommodation and engine room. Beneath the cargo tanks are six (6) pairs of double-bottom water ballast tanks and one forepeak tank. The Vessel is equipped to carry 190 TEU on deck.The vessel has a flush main deck with a raised forecastle forward and a raised poop deck aft.
This project was that of transportation of 32 pieces of Hydraulic Foldable Hatch covers, weighing approx. 9,70,200 kg / 4792.88 CBM, which arrived at Cochin Port on 9th May 2020, from the port to the jetty of Cochin Shipyard Limited, by barges through inland waterways. LOTS-India, in a well-managed sub-contract with National Trades & Agencies, successfully accomplished the task by a combination of tugs and barges amidst a host of challenges including adverse weather conditions, low draft on the inland waterway posing a threat to safe navigation and manoeuvring of the barges, extremely low berthing space at unloading point,etc.
M.V. Imperial Crown, River Sea Vessel (RSV) Type IV, a coastal cargo/container vessel of 2000 DWT, was dry-docked by Master Shipyard Private Limited on balloons at the MSPL Vallarpadom Facility. We believe this was the first time ever such a large vessel was hauled up on balloons and placed on the blocks. MSPL has pioneered the docking on balloons, progressively pushing the envelope from 100 MT barges to 650 MT light ship vessels, based on a unique model developed and accomplishing the periodical and mandatory survey requirements, where traditional docking in graving docks or slipways may not be available.