In a move that took many by surprise, the Cochin Shipyard Ltd. (CSL) has shipped two ferries that were built for the Kochi Water Metro to Uttar Pradesh for being operated in Ayodhya and Varanasi by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI).
They were from the lot of 23 ferries for which Kochi Water Metro Limited (KWML) had placed orders to be operated from the mainland to 10 islands in the Greater Kochi area. Another six such electric-hybrid ferries will be built at Hoogly Cochin Shipyard Ltd., a subsidiary of the CSL in Kolkata. Their delivery process will begin in June and will in all probability be deployed in Ayodhya, Varanasi, Mathura and Guwahati, it is learnt.
Sources said that this was part of the Ministry of Shipping’s efforts to deploy electric and other low-carbon footprint ferries in the country’s inland waterways. The Kochi Water Metro ferries had won a global award — the Gussies Electric Boat Award 2022 — in the commercial-ferry category, before they were commissioned in April 2023.
Reasons for delay
The CSL has so far handed over 12 of the 23 ferries to the KWML. Sources in the agency attributed the delay in delivering the remaining 11 to supply-chain issues. Components like their hull and equipment have been kept ready. There is delay in getting the super structure from an Andhra Pradesh-based firm, reportedly due to supply-chain issues. Efforts are under way to deliver two more ferries by month-end and another two in February, they added.
The KWML has been banking on the delivery of more ferries to extend the Water Metro’s operations in the High Court-South Chitoor corridor and subsequently to Eloor, Cheranaloor, and Fort Kochi. “A couple of ferries are currently conducting trial runs in the South Chitoor route. The CSL has said that handing over of two ferries to the IWAI will not be at the cost of the Kochi Water Metro project,” sources said.
