Ambuja Cements to Invest ₹2,500 Crore in Cement and Clinker Carriers

Ambuja Cements Ltd, an Adani Group company, plans to spend approximately ₹2,500 crore on the construction of two cement carriers and eight clinker carriers, according to sources. Cochin Shipyard Ltd or Swan Defence and Heavy Industries Ltd is expected to get the contract to make the vessels, with orders expected within 15 days.

Special ‘Sanghimax’ vessels with a 4-metre draft and a beam of 30 metres, the first of its kind in the world. These carriers are engineered to optimize lifting power, transporting up to 9,200 tonnes of clinker per trip, a leap from conventional 4-metre draft vessels, with their paltry 3,000 tonnes maximum payload. The vessels also have a length of 150 metres, because of which they are capable of sailing along the difficult shipping channel to Sanghi Industries Ltd’s cement plant in Kutch, Gujarat.

They take their name from a ship type: the “Sanghimax,” named for the Suezmax ships that can pass through the Suez Canal and Panamax ships through the Panama Canal. Here, the name refers to the vessels’ ability to reach the integrated cement plant dabbed as Sanghi industries that have a clinker and a cement manufacturing capacity of 6.6 million tonnes and 6.1 million tonnes respectively.

Should Swan Defence and Heavy Industries Ltd win the order, it will be the first commercial order for the firm after it had acquired the Pipavav shipyard in Gujarat under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The shipyard that wins the project will also get a 14 percent subsidy under the ‘Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme’, which the Union Cabinet approved in March 2023.

Cement is a core business of Adani Group and the investment is in line with our strategy to expand our logistics network for cement transportation. Ambuja Cements currently has a fleet of 11 cement carriers to transport cement from its plants to the points of consumption. Industry experts say it’s cheaper to move ocean than it is road or rail, and combining shipping with trucking can make door-to-door delivery easier.

“Logistics for Adani’s cement will change drastically, and transporting cement along the coast will be economical and efficient,” said an industry source.