CHENNAI: Less than two years after India and Sri Lanka relaunched the passenger ferry, the state is moving to commercialise the route’s onshore infrastructure, inviting bids for duty-free retail and foreign-exchange concessions at the Nagapattinam International Passenger Terminal.
The Tamil Nadu Maritime Board (TNMB), the body that built and operates the terminal, has floated two parallel tenders: one for designated duty-free shop space and another for a forex facility.
The move marks an attempt to extract commercial value from a route that has, by the state’s own account, exceeded expectations since it began service in August 2024.
The Nagapattinam-Kankesanthurai ferry, which carries up to 150 passengers a voyage, has now ferried more than 25,000 passengers – traffic that TNMB cites as evidence of durable demand from tourists, business travellers, and Tamil diaspora split across the Palk Strait.
That passenger base is the commercial logic behind the new tenders. Duty-free retail and currency exchange are standard fixtures of international ports and terminals worldwide, officials said.
The move to auction duty-free retail and foreign-exchange concessions signals the TNMB now sees it as a functioning international passenger gateway, complete with the commercial ecosystem typically associated with cross-border travel, according to people familiar with the development.