BL reported that Shipping Corporation of India is finalizing its acquisition plan for various types of offshore supply vessels such as anchor handlers, platform supply vessels and multi purpose supply vessels.

A spokesman for SCI said that "We will firm up our plan and place it before our board for approval shortly." He added that right now, SCI has 10 such vessels of its own and the plan is to double the fleet size within the next few years. The total cost of the proposed acquisition would depend on the types of vessels to be acquired, ranging from USD 20 million for 80 tonne capacity to USD 100 million for medium systems vehicles each.

The spokesman said that government approval would be needed only if the total cost of acquisition exceeded INR 500 crore. In 2007, the shipping line placed orders for four 80 tonne anchor handlers costing about USD 80 million with Bharti Shipyard, the deliveries being due in 2010-11.

In addition to its own OSVs, SCI also operates 21 other such vessels, including five medium systems vehicles belonging to the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation.