Daijiworld Media Network - Brahmavar (SP)

Brahmavar,Apr 24: Malpe unit of Tebma Shipyards, which is a leading name in the manufacture of ships, has stopped functioning,sources said. The company chose to stop work long before its lease period is to end.

No work, either in the field of ship building or manufacture of ship spare parts, are being undertaken both at Malpe and Hangarkutta in the taluk, locals said.

In the past, ship parts were manufactured at Hangarkatta and then transported to Malpe. Ships were built at Malpe by using thee parts. Thousands of workers, technical staff and engineers used to work for the company here.

Tebma, which was set up in 1984 at Tamll Nadu, has its shipyard also at Chengalpet in Tamil Nadu. So far it has manufactured 18 to 20 cargo ships, including a few for Indian Navy,it is said. The last of the mega ships it built happened to be 'Fugro Scout' built in 2015 at a cost of 1.2 crore dollars, which had sailed off to Singapore on February 23 that year.

Tebma had the capability to build ships for locating deep sea oil reserves and other deep sea operations. It was set up at Malpe in the year 2009 with a 15-year lease. Initially, fishermen had opposed the shipyard's construction here. It is said that the company has stopped operation on account of financial crisis.