DigitalOcean Marine Engineering is establishing an integrated, future-ready shipyard and MRO complex on the East Coast of India. Multi-fuel newbuilds up to 60,000 DWT. A dedicated MRO division with its own drydocks. Engineered to international class, built for global commercial, defence, and offshore owners.
The complex is structured as two dedicated operating zones working in parallel. Newbuilds on one side, a full-spectrum MRO division on the other. Both served by purpose-built docking and 1.5 km of combined sea and river frontage. No scheduling conflicts between shipbuilding milestones and repair berths.
Multi-fuel commercial vessels engineered to international class. Modular block construction with 60 to 75 percent pre-outfitting at the block stage. Delivered fuel-ready for LNG and methanol, with structural provisions for ammonia and hydrogen-derivative conversion.
A fully dedicated MRO zone with its own drydocks, floating dock and repair berths. Physically separated from newbuild operations, so repair scheduling never competes with shipbuilding milestones. Counter-cyclical capacity that serves operators across the dock cycle.
A building dock and two dedicated MRO drydocks anchored by a Goliath crane of 800 to 1,000 tonnes lifting capacity. Deep-draft, all-weather port environment supports year-round vessel movement across the full Handymax to Ultramax envelope.
Vessels operating in the Bay of Bengal currently sail to West Coast yards, to Singapore, to the Middle East, or to Southeast Asia for drydocking and major repairs. This deviation imposes off-hire costs on owners, lengthens turnaround cycles, and exports significant repair revenue.
Global fleet renewal driven by IMO emission regulations including EEXI, CII and MARPOL Annex VI, aging vessel profiles and decarbonisation pathways generates sustained demand for fuel-ready newbuilds and for retrofit services.
The integrated shipbuilding and MRO model produces counter-cyclical cash flows, mitigating exposure to the inherent cyclicality of newbuild markets alone. Andhra Pradesh's coastline, port-led policy and skilled coastal workforce position the State as a credible export hub.
A 250-acre integrated parcel, 1.5 km of frontage, and a phased build-out engineered to deliver export-grade tonnage and employ tens of thousands across the host region.
Phase I focuses on the 12,000 to 42,000 DWT segment, dominated by the Handymax and Supramax bulk carrier classes. Phase II extends the envelope to vessels up to 60,000 DWT, opening access to the Ultramax segment and specialised cargo carrier opportunities.
The yard production system is built on a Digital Twin platform integrating 3D CAD/CAM, ERP, production planning, material tracking and yard management. IoT instrumentation across cranes, dock systems, fabrication lines and utilities feeds an AI-driven scheduling and predictive maintenance layer.
A facility-wide Digital Twin serves as the integrating backbone for production planning, material tracking, schedule management and asset performance monitoring. The model is built once from CAD and kept live through ERP transactions and IoT telemetry. Enables predictive scheduling, what-if scenarios and operational decision support across the production cycle.
Cranes, dock systems, panel lines, CNC cutting cells, welding stations and utility systems are instrumented for real-time load, position, throughput, quality and condition monitoring. Workforce safety wearables and zone access control extend the digital backbone into HSE compliance.
AI-driven tools optimise block sequencing, dock occupancy, crane allocation and workforce deployment across the production cycle. Predictive maintenance analyses equipment telemetry to anticipate failures and schedule preventive interventions, with material productivity gains over manual scheduling during parallel construction periods.
All newbuilds delivered from the facility are designed with explicit fuel-ready notations for LNG and methanol, with structural and zoning provisions for ammonia and hydrogen-derivative fuels. The MRO complex is configured to undertake fuel conversion retrofits for third-party vessels seeking to comply with evolving IMO requirements.
Cybersecurity is built into the architecture rather than added as overlay. Network segmentation between OT and IT, role-based access controls, encrypted communications for sensitive data, continuous monitoring and incident response. Aligned to applicable Indian cybersecurity guidelines for critical infrastructure.
The Challa Group serves as the Strategic Investor in DOME, committing anchor equity capital and the institutional balance-sheet credibility required to finance an export-class shipyard from the ground up.
Shipyards are capital-intensive, long-cycle assets. The first dock takes years to commission, the first hull takes longer still, and lender comfort during that window depends almost entirely on who stands behind the equity. Challa Group's anchor commitment converts the project from a promising concept into a bankable infrastructure platform.
Beyond capital, the Group brings the long-term orientation, governance discipline and corporate relationships that structured project finance requires. This is the basis on which DOME approaches scheduled commercial banks, financial institutions, multilateral lenders and Export Credit Agencies for the senior-debt component of the programme.
Participation as Strategic Investor signals a durable, multi-decade view of Indian maritime capacity. That signal matters to class societies, shipowners and State authorities alike as DOME builds its order book, supplier ecosystem and regulatory standing on the Andhra Pradesh coast.
Every hull, every system, every production drawing carries the discipline of a design house with sixty-five years of marine engineering heritage and a credit list of vessels in service across four continents.
SEDS India is DOME's design, technology and programme management partner — responsible for the engineering backbone that turns shipowner specifications into production-ready packages, and production-ready packages into vessels delivered to international class.
The partnership covers the full lifecycle: concept and basic design, classification approvals, production engineering, block nesting, retrofit engineering on 3D scan data, and walk-through digital models for owner and class review. The same engineering discipline that supports newbuilds underwrites the MRO division's retrofit and conversion work.
SEDS was the first CADMATIC user in India and has remained on the platform continuously since 2007 — giving DOME a digital design environment that runs natively from contract design through to the production information delivered to the yard floor. Not a third-party drawing office, but a long-term technology stack the project is built on.
A selection of vessel designs from the SEDS portfolio that are operating, under construction, or in advanced negotiation. These designs and the production discipline behind them anchor the technical credibility of the DOME yard.
Twenty vessels delivered to the Indian Coast Guard. Full basic and production design package. Builder: Cochin Shipyard.
First of the Seatransporter series. Full design package. Two ships delivered. Builder: Tsuji Shipyard, China.
Eight vessels for the Indian Navy. Hull detailed engineering, feasibility modelling for machinery, piping, outfitting, electrical and HVAC.
Hull detailed engineering and feasibility modelling for outfitting items. Two vessels under construction.
2,400 cbm LNG storage, developed against both GTT exo-skeleton and Type-C tank options. Twenty ship order in advanced negotiation.
Basic design for Colombo Dockyard. Vessel in operation.
250 passenger capacity. Basic design package for Cochin Shipyard.
Complete production design for GRSE. Inland passenger electrification.
150+ retrofit engineering packages on cargo vessels worldwide. 3D scan modelling, MTO, flow analysis, nesting. Clients: Goltens, BLOM Maritime, Yanmar.
An export-class facility demands export-class governance. The Project is implemented through a dedicated Special Purpose Vehicle with independent Board oversight, PMC and Lender's Independent Engineer reviews, and structured milestone-linked disclosures to investors and the State.
Operations aligned to ISO 9001 (Quality), ISO 14001 (Environment), ISO 45001 (HSE) and ISO 27001 (InfoSec) from early phase. Construction under recognised class society survey.
Two phases, four sub-phases for Phase I. Aligns capital expenditure with demonstrated order book progression, improving lender comfort and reducing equity risk.
Project Management Consultant, Owner's Engineer and Lender's Independent Engineer reviews. Standard project finance security package with debt service reserve.
Structured reporting to the Government of Andhra Pradesh, lenders and strategic stakeholders on milestones, employment outcomes, skilling and CSR commitments.
Land lease MoU with APMB, PMC and master planner appointment, EIA/CRZ initiation, lender engagement.
Detailed master plan and engineering. Senior debt term sheet, financial close, EPC packages tendered.
Reclamation, dredging, breakwater, civil foundations, utility corridors, perimeter and access infrastructure.
Goliath crane, building dock, fabrication halls, panel and block lines, painting and outfitting facilities.
Wet and dry commissioning, class society accreditation, first newbuild keel laying, first MRO drydock operational.
Greenfield development enabling integrated master planning of shipyard, MRO complex, ancillary clusters, utility corridors, logistics and green belt without the constraints of pre-existing urban or industrial encumbrances.
Strong upstream connectivity to steel-producing clusters in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha. Adequate navigational channels and turning basins for newbuild float-out and incoming MRO traffic.
The Project is anchored by a partnership between DigitalOcean Marine Engineering, which leads the operational, technical and execution mandate, and Challa Group, which serves as the Strategic Investor backing the Project with anchor equity capital.
DOME is an Indian private limited company established to develop and operate world-class shipbuilding and marine engineering capability from the Indian coast. Registered office in Hyderabad, with the shipyard and MRO complex proposed near Ramayapatnam on the Andhra Pradesh coast.
The promoter team brings collective experience across naval architecture, heavy fabrication, systems integration and lifecycle marine services. The mandate covers commercial newbuild programmes, defence platform construction, offshore support vessel projects and full-lifecycle MRO services for Indian and international clients.
Challa Group provides anchor equity capital and the institutional balance-sheet credibility required to attract structured debt from scheduled commercial banks, financial institutions and export credit agencies.
Participation as the Strategic Investor signals durable, long-term capital commitment and reflects shared confidence in the export-class shipbuilding and MRO opportunity on the Andhra Pradesh coast. Contribution extends to institutional governance representation, strategic guidance and established corporate relationships supporting project financing, stakeholder engagement and long-term value creation.
For shipowners, charterers and financiers seeking export-class capacity on the Indian coast. For class societies, OEM partners, MSME suppliers and skilling institutions joining the Ramayapatnam ecosystem. For State and central government bodies engaging with the Project.