KOCHI: While starting his career as a painter during his pre-degree days, Bolgatty-based Nishyjith K John didn’t know what the future holds for him. Sifting through construction works and as a sales representative of HMT watches, he went on to become a cruise vessel manufacturer. After building five vessels of international standard, the 45-year-old has reached half-way mark to launch his sixth, the biggest private cruise vessel ever constructed in Kerala.
“With the support of my friends, I started the business 19 years ago by renting a boat. By reinvesting the turnover into a business under Neo Classic Cruise & Tours Pvt Ltd, I built more boats later. It’s our sixth party vessel. All of them are designed and developed by us,” he said.The party vessel, approved by Indian Register of Shipping, is being built at Ramanthuruth in Vallarpadam with the help of 45 workers.
“It has been a couple of difficult years. Starting from demonetisation to Covid, were too many challenges, there was no dearth of a challenges for us. I am proud that even during the pandemic, we managed to distribute salary to all our staff,” Nishyjith said.While many tour promoters are depending on vessels imported, he has constructed all of his cruises using indigenous materials. Years of planning went into the latest one on the lot.
“We have been thinking of building a bigger vessel for the past five years. The construction began in March 2020. But Covid and the subsequent lockdowns have severely affected our plans. Still, we completed the structural work. With the installation of the engine and other necessary parts, we are planning to launch the vessel within the next four months,” he said.
Nishyjith is busy developing a trusted brand. “Since I don’t have anything to keep as collateral, all of these boats were made without any loans. Still, we could proudly say we built Kerala’s first private deep-sea tourist boat 11 years ago. Starting with different crew messes to DJ parties, we have been providing a good experience for customers over the years at a normal rate. Besides, our years of experience in vessel construction has also won the confidence of the officials as well,” he said.
Though the Covid situation is delaying the opening up of tourism sector, he is optimistic it will be back to normal soon. “Families and school trips are our major targets and with vaccination on the rise, we will be able to get some revenue by end of this year. We are pinning our hopes on the government to regain the lost ground,” he added.
GOVT AID CAN DO WONDERS
Nishyjith says small support from the government can do wonders for the industry. “All my vessels were built without any government support. With the impact of Covid, the situation has become very grim. Through financial support, we can build international-standard vessels in future,” said Nishyjith, who’s busy building a 50m long, 11m wide ship.