21-07-2025
INS Sandhayak makes maiden port call at Port Klang
Visakhapatnam: Indian Navy's indigenously-designed and built survey vessel large (SVL) INS Sandhayak made her maiden port call at Port Klang, Malaysia. The four-day-long maiden visit that continued till July 19 aimed at facilitating technical exchanges and strengthening institutional ties via concerted cooperation like sharing of survey technologies and sustained hydrographic support engagements.
The key activities during the visit included knowledge exchange sessions, official receptions and events designed to foster international goodwill and elevate awareness of the MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth across Regions) vision.
The visit reaffirmed India's commitment to regional maritime cooperation made for hydrographic cooperation and demonstrated the country's growing role in regional hydrographic capacity building under the Indian Naval Hydrographic Department (INHD) and the National Hydrographic Office framework.
INS Sandhayak, the first Sandhayak-class hydrographic survey ship with 80 percent of indigenous content, was commissioned last February. The ship has full‐scale coastal and deep‐water surveying capacity, oceanographic data collection and is capable of Search and Rescue (SAR) humanitarian operations with onboard helicopter and hospital functions.
The primary role of the ship is to carry out full-scale hydrographic surveys of ports, harbours, coastal areas, deep seas and navigational channels. Enabling safe and secure maritime navigation, the ship is capable of undertaking a range of naval operations. Empowered with state-of-the-art hydrographic equipment, including deep and shallow water multibeam echo sounders, autonomous underwater vehicle, side scan sonars and satellite-based positioning systems, INS Sandhayak is propelled by two diesel engines.
