The Mumbai Port Trust, which is transforming into an international cruise destination, handled an additional 20,000 foreign travellers in the last five years, as per latest data.
The number of international passengers who either boarded cruise ships or disembarked from visiting cruise ships crossed 58,000 this year, as against under 38,000 in 2015-16, said Gautam Dey, senior deputy traffic manager, business development, Mumbai Port Trust.
Speaking at a recent maritime conference called INMEX SMM 2019 in Mumbai, Mr. Dey said in 2015-16, a total 128 international ships called on Chennai, Cochin, Mumbai, New Mangalore and Mormugao ports, and this number increased to 157 ships in 2018-19. The number of international passengers who visited all these ports was 1,25,838 in 2015-16 and increased to 2,01,872 in 2018-19.
On the domestic front, 27,899 passengers travelled between Mumbai and Angre port by 64 ships, whereas the same number travelled on the Goa to Angre route.
New domestic routes which are scheduled to open shortly will further increase traffic.
The Mumbai to Porbandar route is likely to open from February 2020, while the Mumbai to Diu route will start from December 2019. The Mumbai to Ganpatipule route will open later this month, while the route connecting Mumbai to Lakshadweep will open in the near future. Apart from this, new services to Tarkarli and Murud Janjira in Maharashtra have also been planned.
The next level
Sanjay Bhatia, chairman, Mumbai Port Trust, as well as the Indian Ports Association, said, “Out of the world’s five cruise companies, at least three have started home porting in Mumbai. In 2017-18, we had 40 ships calling, now in 2019-20, we have 206 ships that are coming. We are growing from primary to secondary stage.”
He added that the international cruise terminal at Mumbai will be completed by June 2020. The domestic one has been completed. The 1-km waterfront, which is being developed, will be completed by next two months.
