The foundation stone for construction of the centre of excellence building was laid on 20 January by Dr Malini V Shankar, vice-chancellor of Indian Maritime University.

Dr Rajoo Balaji, pro vice-chancellor, K Saravanan, registrar, cmdr KD Joshi (retd), controller of examination, M Saravanan, finance officer and VK Singh, chief engineer, CPWD, Kolkata. The construction the centre is expected to start functioning by July 2025..

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The university is under the ministry of shipping.

The objectives of the centre of excellence in maritime are to promote research and development initiatives of IMU; conduct training and education programmes for students of IMU, professionals and industry stakeholders; promote industry partnerships and collaborations with shipping companies, port authorities and other organisations involved in the maritime sector.

Research in two of the niche areas, namely, effecting improvements in Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) through bio fuels and developing a toolkit for fuel optimisation on merchant ships are already being considered under the aegis of Dr Mehrotra CoEM. In addition, research on alternate fuels and application of artificial intelligence, along with other advanced studies, that have a direct bearing on the maritime sector applications are also envisaged. This venture will motivate bright young minds of seafarers to pursue excellence through research and innovation and develop sustainable solutions for the maritime sector.

Dr Ravi K Mehrotra Centre of Excellence in Maritime (CoEM) is being established at IMU, Kolkata Campus, as a consequence of an endowment from Dr Ravi K Mehrotra, an alumnus of the Indian Maritime University Kolkata campus [erstwhile Directorate of Marine Engineering Training (DMET)] at Kolkata, and founder of the Foresight Group, United Kingdom, with an aim to empower his alma mater with enhanced capabilities in innovation and research in the maritime domain as well as development of seafarers for the future.

An MoU was signed with M/s RK Mehrotra Holdings Limited (RKMHL) on 5 Aug 2024, for extending a donation of 1.5 MUSD over a period of five years, towards furthering the above objective. In addition, RKMHL will also bear the expenditure of up to 0.72 MUSD for construction of the centre of excellence building at the IMU, Kolkata campus, spanning over an area of 6,500 sqft. The preparatory works are in progress and the construction will commence soon.