Panaji, Aug 24 (IANS): Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL), a public sector shipyard under the defence ministry, Wednesday said it had posted a Rs.176 crore profit after taxes for the financial year 2010-11.

Speaking to reporters here, GSL's chairman-cum-managing director Vineet Bakshi said that for the last fiscal year, the firm had achieved a value for production (VoP) of Rs.990 crore, the highest since its inception.

"This is as compared to the Rs.866.48 crore VoP last year," Bakshi said.

GSL, located in the port town of Vasco, 30 km from here, is also being upgraded and its facilities modernised.

"With the commissioning of a 6,000-tonne shiplift and transfer system, GSL has achieved the milestone of being the first defence shipbuilding yard in India to be equipped with a modern shiplift facility for launching and docking of ships.

"The construction work of phase three and four of modernisation is expected to be completed in three years after award of the contract. Once fully implemented, it is expected to enhance the present shipbuilding capacity of the shipyard by nearly three times," Bakshi added.

He said GSL's future was bright as the 350 ships operated by the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard as well as marine policing units would require constant repairs and maintenance over the next few decades.