Maersk Carries Out Its First Planned Dry Dock in India with the Chattogram

The Singapore-flagged container ship Maersk Chattogram arrived on October 20, 2026, at L&T's Kattupalli shipyard near Chennai to undergo the first planned dry dock carried out by Maersk in India. The operation is subject to operational and weather conditions.

The dry dock is part of the vessel's normal life cycle and includes its scheduled special survey, as well as maintenance work and inspection of the hull, structure, machinery, equipment, and propulsion system. India's largest Shiplift system, installed at L&T's Kattupalli shipyard, will be used to lift the vessel out of the water.

This work marks the first operational milestone to emerge from the memorandum of understanding signed by Maersk and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) during India Maritime Week 2025, aimed at exploring collaboration in shipbuilding, ship repair, and knowledge exchange. Dinesh Kumar Balraj, Head of East Fleet Operations at Maersk, noted that the company seeks to align its global technical requirements with the growing capabilities of India's shipyards, suppliers, and maritime services. For his part, Arun Ramchandani, Head of Precision Engineering and Systems at L&T, stated that the project will bring together Maersk's technical and fleet teams with L&T, Indian subcontractors, suppliers, and maritime service providers.

The Maersk Chattogram, with a deadweight of 37,157 tonnes, was built in 2016 and has been sailing for Maersk since 2022. It has a length of 186 meters, a capacity of 2,754 TEU, and is registered in Singapore.

The project is part of Maersk's commitments to India, a country with which the carrier signed memorandums of understanding with both L&T and Cochin Shipyard to explore ship repair, maintenance, and shipbuilding. In October 2025, Maersk had already reflagged two container ships, the Maersk Vigo and the Maersk Vilnius, to the Indian registry, partly to comply with India's new cabotage restrictions. Maersk thus followed in the footsteps of CMA CGM, which was the first major international carrier to reflag vessels to India -where it currently maintains six container ships under the Indian flag- and to announce the construction of six 1,700 TEU feeder vessels at Cochin Shipyard, with the first delivery expected in February 2029. In total, India has 41 container ships under its flag.