The global ship manufacturing industry is involved in the modification as well as the construction of ships and these operations are carried out in specialized facilities known as shipyards. This industry builds ships for military as well as commercial purposes. The ship manufacturing industry is segmented on the basis of ship type such as Tankers, LPG and LNG, Bulkers, Containers and other special types of vessels. The ship manufacturing industry is mainly dominated by Asian players such as Japan, South Korea and China. The traditional large ship manufacturers in the region such as China, Japan, Southeast Asia as well as Korea are increasing their offshore capabilities and are providing a single marine solution for both offshore and ship manufacturing.

Last year, the global demand for ship manufacturing declined sharply due to the slow economic growth and the imbalance in the supply and demand of the ships. The weaker demand was mainly due to an increase in the ship manufacturing price and the demand of freight rates declined in containership as well as bulk carrier. Increasing strong commercial vessel market, seaborne trade and the rising GDP of the world economies are the growth drivers of this industry. Weakened ship prices and continued weakness in drillship new order market are some of the main trends in this industry. The ship manufacturing companies function in an extremely competitive environment with development capabilities, productivity and the skills and competence being the key aspects.

The Indian ship manufacturing industry is likely to touch 9,200 crore from the current level of 7,310 crore in the next 5 years, and Indian accounts about 7.3 lakh crore i.e. about 1% of the global ship manufacturing industry. The global ship manufacturing industry is growing at about 24% and is likely to reach 14 lakh crore by the end of this year due to a rise in the global sea borne trade. Availability of skilled workforce, low costs of labor together with a robust demand in the domestic market as well as a growing steel industry are the factors that build up a strong case for the Indian ship manufacturing industry.

The overall cargo traffic at the major ports in India is about 600 million tones and is expected to touch 3000 million tons by 2020. This industry is growing ar the rate of 20 per cent every year. For this India has to furbish its ports and the whole infrastructure in order to enhance its capacity.