The Cochin Shipyard on Tuesday launched two passenger vessels, each with a capacity to carry 500 passengers, for the Andaman and Nicobar administration. Kanchan Gadkari, wife of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, launched the ships.
These form part of a four-vessel order valued ₹1,400 crore placed by the A&N Administration.
The ships, built to the highest standards of the Indian Register of Shipping and American Bureau of Shipping and meeting the requirements of a class V passenger vessel as per Indian Merchant Shipping rules, will be a boon to the residents of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, according to officials.
“These ships would connect the island part of the archipelago and would boost the tourism sector. At present the A&N administration is dependant on five ships, of which three are more than 20 years old, for serving the intra-island transportation requirement,” the yard said in a note.
Facilities
The vessels have modern cafeteria, and also recreation rooms, for the officers, cabin passengers and bunk class passengers. Cabin class comprises deluxe cabins, first class cabins and second class cabins. Deluxe cabin with 6 berths can accommodate 12 passengers whereas the first class with eight berths can accommodate 32 persons. The second class cabins with 6 berths can accommodate 36 persons. The cabin would be the preference for those travelling for leisure which gives the comfort of a book rack, easy chair, and spacious berth and complete with a refrigerator.
The ships can also carry cargo up to 150 tonnes each. The cargoes will be stored in separate holders in 10 TEU containers and handled by the 15T onboard crane. With a speed of 16 knots, the ships combine speed and comfort, and will have a complement of 61 officers.
The vessels, almost 100-m-long, were contracted by Cochin shipyard on in March 2016. The yard is looking to deliver the ships ahead of the delivery schedule of September 2019 and February, 2020.
The basic design of these vessels was drawn up by the Kochi-based Smart Engineering and Design Solution in cooperation with world renowned Naval Architects Knud E Hansen of Denmark.
