Coast Guard gets new pollution control vessel, top official says it will protect marine ecosystems

Panaji, Jul 23 (PTI) Defence public sector unit Goa Shipyard Limited on Wednesday launched its second indigenously designed Pollution Control Vessel (PCV), Samudra Prachet, for the Indian Coast Guard, an official said.

The vessel has two side arms capable of collecting oil spills while underway and a radar to detect oil slicks, the GSL official said.

Director General of Indian Coast Guard Parmesh Sivamani, who was present during the launch at Vasco in South Goa, stressed the strategic importance of the vessel in strengthening India’s capacity for coastal environmental protection and pollution response operations, the official said.

Sivamani said the vessel will play a pivotal role in safeguarding marine ecosystems.

The indigenously designed Samudra Prachet (Yard 1268) is the second in a series of two PCVs. The first one, Samudra Pratap (Yard 1267), was launched on August 29 last year.

GSL Chairman and Managing Director Brajesh Kumar Upadhyay also attended the event. He underscored the critical importance of this platform in advancing India’s maritime environmental preparedness.

Upadhyay also said that the vessel has 72 per cent indigenous content, which he called a significant contribution to the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

A senior GSL official said the vessel is 114.5 metres long and 16.5 metres wide, with a displacement of 4170 tonnes. It will be manned by 14 officers and 115 sailors, he said.

The official said that the vessel is equipped with two side-sweeping arms capable of collecting oil spills while underway, as well as a modern radar system for detecting oil slicks.

He said the PCV is engineered to recover oil across the “full viscosity spectrum, pump in contaminated water, analyse and separate pollutants and store recovered oil in dedicated onboard tanks”. PTI RPS NR