Posted on November 2, 2026
Summary
Knowledge Marine & Engineering Works has secured its largest-ever dredging order, worth ₹303.17 crore including taxes, from New Mangalore Port Authority. The three-year maintenance programme will cover navigational and operational areas, with the first season scheduled to begin on 15 November 2026.
Three-year programme begins in November
The KMEW dredging contract covers maintenance works at New Mangalore Port across FY2026–27, FY2027–28 and FY2028–29. Knowledge Marine & Engineering Works received the Letter of Acceptance on 30 October 2026 after emerging as the lowest bidder.
The assignment carries an annual base value of approximately ₹101.07 crore, including taxes. Each annual dredging campaign is to be completed within 150 days, establishing a defined execution window for the contractor.
The award provides KMEW with a substantial multi-year assignment at an operating seaport. Its commercial benefit will depend on delivering the specified work through successive dredging seasons, making equipment availability, mobilisation and coordination with port operations central to execution.
Work extends from approach channel to berth areas
The programme involves post-monsoon maintenance dredging of approximately 15.9 million cubic metres over three years, equivalent to an average of 5.3 million cubic metres annually.
Its scope includes the outer approach channel, lagoon, dock areas, turning circle, designated berth faces and pump-house areas. KMEW plans to deploy a suitable trailing suction hopper dredger, supported by specialised equipment for work in more confined operational locations.
The 7.5-kilometre outer approach channel is included in the assignment, with specified dredging depths reaching up to 15.40 metres below Chart Datum. Chart Datum is the reference level used to express charted depths; this figure should therefore be distinguished from the draught permitted for an individual vessel.
The breadth of the work illustrates why dredging requirements extend beyond a port’s entrance channel. Ships also need adequate navigable space to turn, approach berths and manoeuvre within the harbour.
Maintaining access as cargo volumes grow
Maintenance dredging removes accumulated material to preserve required navigational depths. Its operational value lies in sustaining access to existing infrastructure and supporting predictable vessel movements.
For port users, dependable depths influence voyage planning, loading decisions and the coordination of marine services. The commercial significance of the contract consequently extends to shipping lines, cargo owners and terminal operators whose schedules depend on reliable harbour access.
The assignment follows a record operating year at New Mangalore Port. The authority handled 50.04 million tonnes of cargo in FY2025–26, its highest annual throughput. That performance provides context for the continuing importance of maintaining the port’s marine infrastructure.
Cargo throughput and dredging quantities measure different activities. Nevertheless, both are relevant to port performance: cargo figures show the scale of trade handled, while maintenance works help preserve the navigational conditions needed to support that activity.
Earlier inland-waterway orders provide background
KMEW’s dredging business also includes assignments supporting inland navigation.
In October 2024, the company announced orders worth approximately ₹147 crore from the Inland Waterways Authority of India under the Jal Marg Vikas Project. Those contracts covered two stretches of National Waterway 1: the 74-kilometre Sultanganj–Mahendrapur section and the 71-kilometre Mahendrapur–Barh section.
The earlier assignments combined dredging and river-conservancy works over three years, with provision for a further two-year extension. Their objective was to support navigability across a combined 145 kilometres of waterway.
The New Mangalore award adds a sizeable coastal-port programme to that background. River-channel maintenance and harbour dredging present different operating conditions, but both require contractors to manage equipment, sediment removal and work schedules around navigation requirements.
KMEW, incorporated in 2015, operates across dredging and marine services, including the ownership and operation of marine craft, repair and refit activities, and hydrographic surveys. These activities form the wider business context for its latest order.
Execution will determine the commercial outcome
The three-year duration offers a longer planning horizon for KMEW’s equipment deployment and project resources. For New Mangalore Port Authority, it establishes a recurring maintenance arrangement across successive financial years.
The immediate milestone is the scheduled November commencement. Completing the required quantities within each seasonal window, while coordinating dredging movements with commercial shipping, will determine how effectively the award translates into maintained navigational access.
