Gandhinagar:

India’s first ocean going Ro-Pax vessel has been acquired by Indigo Seaways for Ghogha – Dahej ferry service.

Since terminal and dredging is already completed, the second phase of Ro – Pax service is ready to be rolled out when the ship arrives in June.

According to Ajay Bhadoo, CEO of Gujarat Maritime Board, Rs 110 crore ro-pax vessel is undergoing refitting at China based shipyard. The ship is expected to arrive by the end of this month and likely to join the regular service from June. The ship will be operational also during monsoon, except there is a bad weather.

The new ship will be used to ferry around 800-1000 passengers and 65 luxury Volvo bus sized vehicles every day between Gohoa and Dahej.

Gandhinagar: ‘It is first vessel which has 800 meter space for vehicles. It can accommodate 65 Volvo buses, or if you count cars, then many more cars can be accommodated in that space. Based on response we get, we may deploy another vessel in future which may have space of 1500 meter,’ Bhadoo said.

GMB expects that luxury bus operators will use ro-pax ferry for travel between Saurashtra and Surat-Mumbai to cut journey time and cruise ship like experience to the passengers.

The new vessel is fully air-conditioned with independent VIP seating area that has attached washroom, food bar and saloon. Economy passenger area will have attached washroom, TV and music facilities. The ship will have two ramps – one on each end. Two car decks will have capacity to carry 65 10-meter loaded vehicles.

Dahej – Ghogha ro-ro ferry service was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year. Indigo Seaways, a private company operates this service between Dahej in South Gujarat and Ghogha in Saurashra on daily basis under public private partnership model with Gujarat Maritime Board(GMB).

DeshGujarat