The services of Sethu Sagar 1, the roll-on roll-off (Ro-ro) vessel, have run into trouble with the vessel developing technical snag on Wednesday evening.
The vessel had to be tugged to the Fort Kochi berth on Wednesday evening as its steering belt snapped. The Ro-ro service may not be disrupted for the time being as the second vessel, Sethu Sagar 2, will be pressed into action, according to sources in the Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation (KSINC).
Information on the technical snag was communicated to Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), which manufactured the vessel for the Kochi Corporation. It is may take a few weeks for spare parts to arrive, KSINC officials said.
Incidentally, KSINC had been repeatedly writing to the civic body to order emergency spare parts, without which, it feared, that the services might be disrupted. The agency wrote to the corporation in March this year, and it was followed by another letter in May. However, there was no response from the civic body, said a KSINC official.
In the latest letter, the KSINC commercial manager had indicated that the agency could not be held responsible if services were disrupted for want of spare parts. For the record, it took almost a week to replace the oil filter of Sethu Sagar 1.
Hinting that the corporation had not heeded to its words, KSINC said any delay in obtaining emergency spare parts may lead to disruption of services.
KSINC had also provided a list of emergency spare parts to be imported from Netherlands and the likely expense for the purchase.
Responding to the developments, Mayor Soumini Jain said the issue had been taken up with CSL. “Spares will have to be procured. CSL indicated it shall manufacture the required spare parts against order,” said Ms. Jain.
