The much-awaited passenger ferry service between India and Sri Lanka is scheduled to commence operations on Tuesday (October 10), around 12 years after the plan was first mooted and a memorandum of understanding was signed between the two countries.
The ferry will operate between Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and Kankesanthurai in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. The transit time is expected to be three hours.
The Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) will operate the ferry service. “The service would offer an excellent opportunity for the people of India and Sri Lanka to make a low-cost trip to Jaffna and Tamil Nadu,” an SCI document said.
The vessel to be used as the ferry is called Cheriyapani. The price of a ticket is yet to be revealed, but passengers will be allowed to take luggage weighing up to 40 kg for free. The ferry can accommodate 150 passengers, said Tamil Nadu Minister for Public Works E V Velu, who added that the state government was closely associated with the service.
The initiative is a revival of maritime connections that trace back to the early 1900s. The Indo-Ceylon Express or Board Mail, which operated between Chennai and Colombo via the Thoothukudi port, was halted in 1982 due to the civil war in Sri Lanka. The resumption of ferry services follows the signing of an MoU on passenger transportation by sea, signed by the two countries in 2011.
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The plan was first mooted after the war in 2011, during a period when Sri Lanka was earnestly attempting to shed its image as a “refugee-producing” country. At the time, two services were on the cards – one between Thoothukudi and Colombo, and the other between Rameswaram and Talaimannar.
One of the most successful ferry services that existed before the Sri Lankan civil war ran between Dhanushkodi, near Rameshwaram, and Talaimannar. People from Chennai would board the Boat Mail Express at the Egmore railway station to go to Rameshwaram and board the ferry. The journey from there to Talaimannar, on a coal-powered steam ferry, used to take approximately two hours.
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The new ferry service is anticipated to boost religious tourism, commerce, and trade in the coastal areas of both countries. With the ferry service positioned as a cost-effective mode of travel, tour operators are also expected to jump in. Budget travellers from Tamil Nadu and other parts of India can explore prominent places of worship in Colombo and the southern regions of Sri Lanka. Also, pilgrims from Sri Lanka will find easier access to pilgrimage sites such as Nagapattinam, Nagore, Velankanni, Thirunallar, and beyond, including the historical sites of the temple cities of Thanjavur, Madurai and Tiruchi.
