How Aeromarine lit and marked Jaypee Cement’s Kharo Creek jetty channel for night navigation on an order with almost no lead time, and no positioning vessel to be had — by putting a local fishing trawler to work instead.
CLIENT
Jaypee Cement Corporation Limited
SCOPE
Captive jetty, Kharo Creek, Gujarat
WORK
7 buoys — 5 × SLB 1500 + 2 × SLB 700, with solar lanterns & moorings
DELIVERED
Supply, deployment, installation & commissioning
THE CHALLENGE
Jaypee Cement’s captive jetty at Kharo Creek moves cement by sea, and needed its approach channel marked and lit so that MBCs could navigate it safely after dark as well as by day. The order called for 7 buoys — 5 SLB 1500 buoys on 24mm chain moorings with 2,000kg sinkers, and 2 SLB 700 buoys on 16mm chain with 500kg sinkers, each fitted with a solar-powered marine lantern — supplied, positioned and commissioned within days of the order being placed. No dedicated buoy-laying vessel was available to the yard on that timeline.
“A gateway that will keep India’s own trade at home.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally inaugurated Vizhinjam International Seaport on 2 May 2025 — the channel Aeromarine marks is the one he opened to the nation.
WHAT AEROMARINE DID
- Engineered at Aeromarine and manufactured entirely in India — rotationally moulded in UV-stabilised virgin polyethylene at Aeromarine’s own works, built for a service life of 10 years+ — 18 navigational buoys across six IALA-compliant configurations: 2 red-and-white fairway buoys, 4 green starboard-hand buoys outside the breakwater plus 2 inside the turning basin, 4 red port-hand buoys outside the breakwater plus 4 inside the turning basin, and 2 black-and-yellow south cardinal marks fitted with Racon — in 2500mm and 3000mm diameters.
- Fitted every buoy with a Sealite SLC-310 solar marine lantern — 20 ultra-high-intensity LEDs, over 3 NM range, up to 256 IALA-recommended flash characters, Bluetooth remote monitoring and over 20 days’ solar autonomy — including two dedicated white lanterns for the fairway buoys.
- Engineered and supplied the complete mooring system for each buoy: cast-iron sinkers up to 3,000 kg, 38mm stud-link chain up to 42 metres, 25-tonne D-shackles and adaptor swivels, rated for water depths up to 150 metres — built to hold, not just to float.
- Supplied, installed and commissioned two Sealite SL60 solar Port Entry Lights, each mounted on a single tower, to mark the centreline of the inner channel on its 317°N alignment — 20 nautical mile night range, IP67/68 rated, with AIS/GPS/GSM remote monitoring capability.
- Positioned and commissioned all 18 buoys and both Port Entry Lights on station across the approach channel and turning basin, verified to survey-grade GPS accuracy, to the approved channel marking plan.
- Earned enough trust to be brought back directly: beyond its main EPC contract routed through HOWE Engineering Projects, Adani Vizhinjam Port Pvt Ltd placed its own follow-on purchase order on Aeromarine in January 2026, for a second Port Entry Light.
THE OUTCOME · WHY AEROMARINE IS THE FIRST CHOICE
A complete, Made-in-India aids-to-navigation system — 18 channel buoys, engineered moorings and two Port Entry Lights — now marks the approach channel and inner harbour of India’s first deep-water transshipment port, guiding in the largest container ships ever to call at an Indian port.
MSC Irina, the largest container ship afloat, has already berthed at Vizhinjam — ships that size leave zero margin for error, and accurate aids to navigation are the difference between a safe transit and a national incident. That is why Adani chose Aeromarine, and why it came back directly for more. It is a pattern: Aeromarine marked JNPT’s entire channel, 22 buoys and 18 leading lights, in 30 days against a 90-day contract; built India’s first Make-in-India CALM buoys for IOCL Paradip; and laid 325 buoys to protect the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park. When a channel cannot fail, they call Aeromarine first. Supplied under HOWE Engineering Projects PO 4540001383 (₹3.00 crore, 2023) and Adani’s own direct PO 4502040604 (₹16.46 lakh, 2026), with full IALA-compliant documentation on file.
Made in India: Manufactured, Rigged and Ready
Every buoy rotationally moulded, rigged and lantern-fitted at Aeromarine’s own works, then staged for shipment to Kerala.
The finished fleet, staged on the quay before shipment
