The demand to introduce the third roll-on roll-off (Ro-Ro) ferry in the Fort Kochi-Vypeen corridor is getting louder, with one of the two such ferries being withdrawn from service on Monday for dry docking that is mandatory every three years.
The Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation (KSINC), which operated the service has in turn brought in Fort Queen, a conventional ferry to transport passengers in the sector.
The process of detailed inspection of the Ro-Ro vessel and its components as part of dry docking at the Cochin Shipyard, which built the two vessels, will take up to 45 days. It will be followed by inspections by officials of the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) and the Ports Department which enforces the Kerala Inland Vessel (KIV) Rules. In this circumstance, it is imperative that the Kochi Corporation, which owns the vessels (operated by KSINC), initiate steps to procure a third vessel that could step in if any of the two ferries was withdrawn for repair, official sources said.
There is adequate space to park the third vessel near the Vypeen jetty, it is learnt.
“The queue of vehicles awaiting the Ro-Ro ferry often extends up to 300 metres in the vicinity of both the terminals,” said Majnu Komath, chairman of Vypeen Janakeeya Kooyatma, an NGO that has been spearheading the demand for a third Ro-Ro ferry in the corridor.
“We had submitted a memorandum to then Mayor in 2017, well before the first Ro-Ro ferry was introduced in the high-in-demand corridor. Our stand was vindicated by the ever-increasing number of vehicles being transported in the two vessels during the past four years,” he added.
A third vessel that is necessary must be bigger than the existing pair. It must, in addition, have seats for passengers, so that the elderly and the handicapped can safely commute.
A solar-powered vessel will be all the more effective in redressing complaints of the sound caused by the two existing ferries, Mr. Komath said.
The Ro-Ro ferries were introduced after a ramshackle ferry that was in operation sank near the Fort Kochi jetty, resulting in the death of 11 persons, after a rashly-driven fishing trawler rammed it in 2015.
A senior official of the Kochi Corporation too cited the need to introduce a third Ro-Ro ferry in the corridor without delay.