Transworld Shipping Lines Limited, formerly known as 'Shreyas Shipping Limited' was established on August 16, 1988. The Company name was changed from 'Shreyas Shipping Limited' to 'Shreyas Shipping & Logistics Limited' effective from 21 November, 2005 and is presently changed to 'Transworld Shipping Lines Limited' effective on October 20, 2024.
The Company was India's first container feeder-owning and operating company. Company's current fleet stands at 12 vessels (with a total capacity of 2,79,962 MT GRT and 3,62,427 MT DWT) comprising 10 container vessels (22,046 TEUs) and 2 dry bulk vessels (69,402 MT DWT), being India's one of the largest container tonnage owning Company.
The Company started its operations in 1993 primarily to fill the gap for feedering of containers between Indian ports and internationally renowned Asian transhipment ports. The Company's current operations includes vessel operations and giving vessels on time chartered. At present, the Company is a leading player in the coastal shipping sector.
Transworld Group of Companies was founded by Mr. R. Sivaswamy in the year 1977, as a shipping company in Mumbai. Later in 1989, under the leadership of Mr. S. Ramakrishnan (Executive Chairman), the Group attained a prominent position in the Shipping, Marine and Logistics segment, in the Subcontinent and Gulf region. The Company is an integral part of the 45-year-old global conglomerate, Transworld Group. It owns over 25 ships that are deployed worldwide and has a reputation of operating reliable liner and feeder services since decades, and paving path to becoming a prominent leader in the Bulk Carrier segment.
After liberalisation, the company acquired MV Orient Prosperity, an 8000-dwt container vessel with a capacity of 405 TEUs, which is the first container owned by the private sector in India. Feeder vessels and services form an integral part of the containerised shipping sector.
In Nov.'93, the Ship Acquisiton & Licensing Committee permitted Shreyas Shipping to acquire three container feeder vessels. This was the first sanction of its kind accorded to the private sector in over a decade. The company has chartered its course to become a major feeder operator in the Bombay-UAE sector, for which a strategic alliance has been entered into with X-Press Containers, UK. It has also commenced a regular common carrier service connecting Bombay and Colombo.
SSL has tied-up with OEL, UK, for technical know-how, shipping operations and procurement of business. Company entered into agreement for taking Two Containers Vessels on lease having a capcity of 1152 teus each from ICICI Ltd. With this acquisiton company increase the fleet to seven. Company started new service between Salaah - Colombo - Tuticorin - Cochin.
In 1999-2000, the company has taken on lease two new vessels, the Orient Spirit and the Orient Strength. It has commenced service between the ports of Kandla and JNPT which has now become a premiur feeder service not only for providing revenue streams to the company but also precious saving in foreign exchange to the nation.
With the help of Government of India company has been able to successfully commence and run a Coastal Feeder Service during 2001.In 2001 company carried out pilot run loading containers at anchorage at minor port at Sikka for transhipment to JNPT. The company is perceiving a sea venture opportunities around the Indian Coast in the area of coastal feedering. In the long run the company has planned to get into Coastal business from Chennai port connecting to Haldia,Vizag and Kakinada.
During 2002-03 the company acquired 'MV Orient Aishwarya' by availing a foreign loan from ICICI Bank of USD 2.40 million.
During 2003-04, Company was among the top ten shipping lines at JNPT carrying 50,875 TEUs (including import and export) tantamounting to a share of around 5% of total container traffic handled by JNPT during the year. Shreyas boasts of maximum vessels call at JNPT during the year 2003-04; it commenced feeder services between Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal (NSICT) and Mundra Port. Shreyas has made concerted efforts to promote coastal transshipment by pioneering coastal feeder services from Kandla, Cochin and Tuticorin into the port of Nhava Sheva.
During January, 2005, Company acquired M. V. Orient Victory', a 569 Teu second hand container vessel thereby augmenting its fleet strength to seven container vessels. Company earmarked Rs.350 crores for expanding its logistics operations and acquiring container vessels and containers. As a first step, Shreyas has, through its subsidiary, set up 20,000 sqft. warehousing and logistics facilities at Kandla and an enclosed storage & handling facility at Ahmedabad. During 2005-06, the Company invested Rs.49.89 lacs in Shreyas Relay Systems Ltd. (SRSL) to make it a wholly owned subsidiary of Shreyas. In December, 2005, Shreyas sold its vessel M.V. Orient Prosperity' for consideration of USD 2.5 million.
The Company added 3 vessels to its fleet, i.e., OEL Trust, OEL Shreyas and OEL Express during 2006-07. It initiated freight services on the East Coast of India which would offer a low cost alternative route for the cargo via upcoming container terminals.
During 2007-08, the Company acquired an additional container vessel in November, 2007 adding thereby a total tonnage of 1,021 Teus to its tonnage of 5927 Teus as on 31st March, 2007. In August, 2007, the Company acquired a 51% stake in Haytrans (India) Ltd thereby making it a subsidiary of the Company. Shreyas Relay Systems Ltd (SRSL), the wholly owned subsidiary of the Company commenced services on the East coast of India in June, 2007; it set up offices at Delhi, Cochin, Kolkata, Tuticorin, Chennai, Kandla and Coimbatore and acquired additional warehousing space at Delhi. Thereafter, it purchased 508 additional containers to service the growing cargo volumes during 2007-08.
During 2008-09, the Company sold off four vessels i.e M. V. OEL Express, M. V. OEL India, M. V. OEL Strength, M. V. OEL Aishwarya for a total consideration of Rs. 21011.31 lacs. It commenced services to newer ports like Pipavav and Mangalore to expand the base, introduced newer commodities in its trade; recommenced its Regional services upon the improvement in container trade. Shreyas has through its wholly owned subsidiary Shreyas Relay Systems Limited (SRS), ventured into road transportation, warehousing and rail movement as regards, containerized logistics during 2011-12. During the year 2012-13, Company has acquired two container vessels thereby increasing its tonnage by over 90%.
Shreyas' introduced an inaugural service exclusively within the State of Kerala connecting the Kochi Port with Port of Kollam in 2014. During the year 2014, the Company introduced two new services connecting the East and West Coast of India. Since then, for the first time two ends on the Indian map were brought together by a costal container operator. With this initiative, connectivity was ensured to the entire Indian Coast through containers and it added a different dimension to the Indian Coastal Container Trade. The Company acquired 2 vessels, M.V. SSL Mumbai and M.V. SSL Gujarat in 2014-15 and accordingly, the tonnage grew substantially with these acquisitions. It commenced services on the East Coast and also to Middle East sectors like Jebel Ali as well as resumed services to Karachi.
During the year 2016, Company acquired three container vessels namely M.V. SSL Bharat, M. V. SSL Chennai and M. V. SSL Visakhapatnam. M. V. SSL Visakhapatnam which is a sister vessel of M. V. SSL Gujarat was acquired in March, 2016 and accordingly, the total tonnage owned by Company summed upto over 13500 teus.
In 2017, the Company acquired two vessels namely SSL DELHI (2500 Teus),and SSL KOLKATA (1100 Teus) and resultantly, the Company's current fleet stood at 10 vessels, with a total capacity 16109 Teus, 226099 DWT, being India's largest container tonnage owning company. 4 vessels, SSL Gujarat, SSL Kochi, SSL Visakhapatnam and SSL Mumbai had undergone dry docking during 2017.
During 2017, Company acquired two vessels, thereby adding 3,580 TEUs capacity and also sold one of its old vessel in the fleet. Shreyas Relay Systems Ltd, which was a wholly owned subsidiary until 26th March, 2017 allotted Equity Shares to M/s Transworld Holdings Limited, Mauritius as consideration for acquisition of 99.99% stake in M/s Balaji Shipping Lines FZCO and hence Shreyas Relay Systems Limited ceases to exist as Wholly Owned Subsidiary effective from 27th March, 2017 and becomes an Associate Company with effect from the said date.
During 2017-18, the Company acquired 4 vessels, out of which 2 MPP vessel namely SSL SABARIMALAI (1118 teus) at USD 4.4 million and SSL BALAJI (671 Teus) at USD 3.4 million were acquired, while the remaining two vessels namely SSL BRAHMAPUTRA (4273 teus) at USD 8 Million and SSL GANGA (1541 Teus) at USD 3.625 Million were also acquired. The Company also sold SSL SAGARMALA which was due for special survey and dry docking. Besides handling containerised cargo, SSLL commenced handling coastal break bulk cargo in the 2nd half of year 2017 and handled 107,324 MT cargo during the year, mainly steel products of RINL and JSW, besides some project cargo. RINL commenced coastal movement of steel products for the first time venturing into modal shift from land to sea mode. 18 major ports and container terminals in India were serviced during year 2017 by SSLL containers and break bulk coastal services on regular frequency, making 1060 port calls during the year.
During the current year 2019, Company acquired one vessel, SSL KRISHNA thereby adding 2,490 TEUs capacity. During 2021-22, the Company completed transactions with Unifeeder ISC FZCO, a subsidiary of DP World Group, which was approved by Board of Directors. It transferred its containerised domestic coastal and EXIM feeder shipping business to Unifeeder ISC FZCO, a subsidiary of DP World and executed a long term framework chartering arrangement with TFPL for chartering of Company's vessels with effect from 1st July 2021. The Company took delivery of two dry bulk carrier vessels namely MV TBC Badrinath (DWT: 34,250 MT) on 15th November 2021 and MV TBC KAILASH (DWT: 35,152 MT) on 26th November 2021.
The strategic business partnership with M/s Unifeeders ISC FZCO came into existence as on 1st July 2021. The Company added two dry bulk carrier vessels, named MV TBC Badrinath and MV TBC Kailash, which took the fleet count to 13 vessels, comprising 11 container vessels (22,123 TEUs and, 2,36,512 MT GRT and 3,00,878 MT DWT) and two dry bulk vessels (44,992 MT GRT and 69,402 MT DWT), making us one of India's largest container tonnage owning company.
As on 31st March 2023, the fleet consisted of 14 vessels, comprising 12 container vessels (26,105 TEUs and, 2,76,484 MT GRT and 3,47,061 MT DWT) and two dry bulk vessels (44,992 MT GRT and 69,402 MT DWT). The Company sold two vessels namely SSL Chennai and SSL Kochi in 2023. It purchased three container vessels MV SSL Godavari, MV SSL Kaveri and MV SSL Thamirabarani.