KOCHI: Roll-on-roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessel built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, owned by the city corporation, and operated by Kerala State Inland Navigation Corporation fails to serve the purpose of commuters, with its service being withdrawn often following technical glitches.
In August 2023, the corporation decided to build a third Ro-Ro using the Cochin Smart City Mission Limited fund. However, nothing has taken off yet.
“A tripartite agreement between CSML, Cochin Shipyard, and the corporation has to be signed. There are some procedural delays in doing this. Once it is done, we can proceed with the construction of a third Ro-Ro,” said Mayor M Anilkumar.
He also said that the lack of a third Ro-Ro is not the only problem. “The machines and spare parts required for the vessels have to be imported from foreign countries, which takes time, and costs more. Therefore, every time a Ro-Ro is withdrawn from service, it takes two or three months to resume service,” said the mayor.
The incident of Sethusagar 1 drifting around 500m away from its path on Saturday halted the service for over an hour.
“The vessel drifted away from its path following the failure of its twin engines, caused by a problem in its cooling system. We had to stop the service for the next few hours and it could be resumed only after 8 pm,” said a KSINC source.
He said that Sethusagar 1 returned to service after dry docking a few months ago. “Even after completing the dry docking at the shipyard, the vessel developed some problems in its engine and it automatically stopped while running without any indication. The issue was reported to the engineers. However, nothing has been done to rectify the defect,” said the source.
Commuters on the Vypeen-Fort Kochi route are struggling to travel due to the frequent withdrawal of the service following technical glitches. Suggesting that a third Ro-Ro is the only solution to the problem, Majnu Komath, chairman of Vypeen Janakeeya Kootayma, said it is high time Kochi got a third Ro-Ro. “We had requested the former mayors and the present incumbent to bring in a third vessel. It’s been five years, yet the authorities failed to introduce a standby vessel,” said Komath.
Pointing out the revenue loss suffered by the corporation, Opposition leader, Antony Kureethara, said that from 2018 until 2023, the corporation has spent around Rs 5.5 crore on the vessels. “Both Ro-Ro services conduct a minimum of 60 to 70 trips per day, making a monthly income of around Rs 1 to Rs 1.5 lakh. However, KSINC, which operates the vessels, has submitted the operational expenses, which need to be re-examined,” said Kureethara. “Moreover, the machines are imported from Denmark and other countries, which leads to delays in repair, and increases expenses. The civic body has not taken any steps to form an SPV, despite getting the state government’s nod in 2020,” he added.