Agreement to start passenger shipping between Chennai-Puducherry ...!

Times of AthibAn Wednesday, July 21, 2021 0

The Ministry of Shipping and Transport is soon to finalize contracts to start passenger shipping between Chennai-Puducherry and Karaikal-Jaffna.

Domestic terminals have been set up at all major ports exempted from customs control to encourage domestic sea transport. In addition, port operators offer a variety of fare concessions to domestic vessels arriving at these terminals. The Ministry of Shipping has expedited the process of introducing passenger shipping on new routes as port infrastructure facilities have been established. As part of this, a tender for the early commencement of passenger shipping between Chennai via Cuddalore, Pondicherry via Nagapattinam and Karaikal-Jaffna (Sri Lanka) is to be sought soon. Meanwhile, discussions with companies interested in participating in the project took place on Monday and Tuesday. Port officials said more than five companies were involved.

Chennai Port Transport Manager S. Kirupanandasamy said about this project,

The Port of Chennai will be the operator of the small passenger shipping project between Chennai and Pondicherry via Cuddalore and Nagai. Various infrastructure facilities, including a shipyard and a passenger terminal, are located at the port of Chennai. A 240 m long and 9 m deep dockyard has been set up at the port of Cuddalore. Similarly, the ports of Nagaon and Pondicherry have been set up with the necessary infrastructure. In which. The Cuddalore and Nagai ports are under the administration of the Government of Tamil Nadu and the Pondicherry Port is under the administration of the Pondicherry Union Territory. It takes about 5 to 6 hours to reach Pondicherry by ferry. Ships are to be sailed to carry about 500 to 600 passengers per ship. They can take their cars and motorcycles with them during the journey. The project is to be implemented with private contribution. Extensive consultation meetings on this are ongoing. It discusses a variety of issues, including infrastructure for passengers and shipping companies. Kirupanandasamy said that the contract will be called soon and the project will come into operation.

Passenger shipping again between Karaikal-Jaffna

South Gujarat-Saurashtra, Mumbai-Alibaba, Panaji-Vasco, Chattapada-Jankiguda, Brahmaputra, Kochi and more than ten routes are being used by passenger transport. Millions of people travel daily on more than a hundred of these ships. The Central Government has decided to start passenger shipping between neighboring countries as passenger shipping is operated by domestic ports. Passenger shipping between Thoothukudi and Colombo was already launched in 2011. But due to insufficient number of passengers, traffic was halted in the same year. The long-running passenger traffic between Rameswaram and Thalaimanna was suspended in 1987 due to the civil war in Sri Lanka. At present the two governments have agreed to start passenger transport between Karaikal and Jaffna. The Deputy Ambassador to Sri Lanka visited the port of Karaikal a few days ago to inspect the final phase of preparations for the commencement of the project. Once the project is operational, it will be possible to reach Jaffna in six hours from Karaikal. It is also expected that the number of cultural, spiritual and tourist arrivals between the two countries will increase.