Surat/Rajkot: Two days ahead of the much-anticipated flag off, the Ro-Pax ferry vessel to run between Ghogha and Hazira hit a technical snag during the trial run on Friday. The vessel ‘Voyage Symphony’ owned by ferry operator, Indigo Seaways, developed the electronic problem mid-sea and had to be called back to Hazira port.
Sources said the system malfunctioned soon after the ship left from Ghogha for Hazira.
Chetan Contractor, chairman and managing director of Indigo Seaways, told TOI, “The vessel encountered some electronic problem during the trial run between Gogha and Hazira and had to called back to Hazira port. The problem will be resolved ahead of its official launch on Sunday.”
Contractor said that trial runs have been going on for the past two days and this was first time that it developed a fault. The glitch will be set right by Friday night, he added.
The ship operator carried out the trial runs between Ghogha and Hazira for nine hours each on Wednesday and Thursday.
Incidentally, the service hit the snag on the day when Bhavnagar BJP MP and national vice-president Bharti Shiyal had organized a press conference to appreciate this project. She, however, ducked all queries regarding the technical glitch.
The three-deck Ro-Pax vessel has a load capacity of 30 trucks on the main deck, 100 passenger cars on the upper deck and 500 passengers, along with 34 ship crew and hospitality staff on the passenger deck.