KOCHI: The Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) has delivered two Ro-Ro vessels to the Kochi Corporation, which will connect Fort Kochi and Vypeen islands with the mainland.
The delivery and acceptance agreement for the vessels - Sethusagar-I and Sethusagar-II - was signed between Anuja A S, secretary, Kochi Municipal Corporation, and Bejoy Bhasker, chief general manager (design & defence projects), CSL, here on Friday.
Sunny Thomas, director (technical); Harris P M, standing committee chairman (works), Kochi Corporation; and other officers from the CSL and the Corporation were present on the occasion, a release said.The ferries are designed to accommodate 18 cars plus 50 passengers or 12 cars and four 10-tonne trucks in addition to 50 passengers.
The vessels are built as per the classification requirements of Indian Register of Shipping and the Kerala Inland Vessel rules. With a length of 27 metres and 8.25 metres width, the vessel can achieve speeds of six knots. The vessels provided with ramps on either side, both in the forward and aft, eliminate the need for reverse parking of the vehicles on the ferry.
“The diagonally placed azimuth thrusters of these vessels eliminate the need for turning of the vessels at the jetty and also allow for better manoeuvrability, especially during high tidal currents,” the release said.