Cochin Shipyard Limited on Friday delivered two ro-ro vessels it has built for the Kochi Corporation.
The protocol of delivery acceptance of the vessels, named Sethusagar-I and Sethusagar-II, were signed between Corporation Secretary Anuja A.S. and Bejoy Bhaskar, Chief General Manager (Design and Defence Projects) of the yard.
CSL’s Director (Technical) Sunny Thomas and Works Standing Committee Chairman of the corporation P.M. Harris were present.
The yard said in a media release that the vessels were equipped with two azimuth thrusters and other state-of-the-art equipment for easy manoeuvring, which would of great service to inter-island transport in Kochi.
Each of these vessels, built under the classification requirements of IRS and the Kerala Inland Vessel rules, has a length of 27 metre and breadth of 8.25 metre. They can attain top speeds of six knots.
The vessels are provided with ramps on either side, both in the forward and aft, which has got rid of the need to reverse the vehicle for parking 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 ferries are designed to accommodate 18 cars besides 50 passengers or 12 cars along with four 10 tonne trucks in addition to 50 passengers.