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Kerala mulls Gulf ship service again

Kerala's Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government is considering revival of the abandoned Gulf ship service to alleviate the travel woes of low-paid Keralites working in the Gulf region.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy announced the move when Palode Ravi of the Congress described the hardships faced by the expats to visit their homes at least once in a year or two due to the steep hike in the airfares in the state Assembly on Wednesday.
Terming the hike during the current peak season unjustifiable, Chandy said that the state government would explore the possibility of launching a ferry service between Cochin in Kerala and major destinations in the Middle East.
Ravi sought effective intervention of the state government in the matter since attempts by successive governments, including the UPA government led by his party, failed to prevent the national carrier and other airlines from fleecing the passengers whenever demand for seats shoots up in the sector.
The government has been toying with the idea of launching its own airline to address the issue. The proposal has not taken off the ground due to stiff conditions in the country's civil aviation rules for permitting new airlines to start foreign operations.
The proposed ship service is also not considered as a viable alternative in the light of previous experiments. The first attempt by Bahrain-based Tylos Ferry in 2001 was abandoned after couple of services from Kuwait to Cochin via Bahrain, Doha, Muscat and Dubai ended in a huge loss.
The second move by a Dubai-based shipping in 2006 did not even take off. A similar proposal mooted subsequently by the Non-Resident Keralites Affairs Department was also put off after it was found unfeasible.
Maritime and travel industry circles are sceptical about the economic feasibility of the ship service due to high port costs and longer duration of journey. A Dubai-Cochin sea travel would now take at least three days on an average compared to four hours of flying time. Travel industry sources said that people, who have travelled in the comfort of a plane, may find it difficult to spend three days in a ship, especially when they come on short holidays. They may rather prefer to postpone their travel when airfares come down.
The operators may also find it difficult to keep the service going throughout the year as the airfares come down during the lean season. The two vessels that Tylos Ferry operated to Kerala in July 2001 had to return empty as the return flow from Kerala to Gulf starts only by the end of August, when schools reopen there.
The state government is considering the revival of the ship service in the light of the efforts being made by the Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation (KSINC) to operate a passenger shipping service between Cochin and Colombo.
The Cochin-Colombo sector was selected by the KSINC considering the proximity of these ports and the potential of receiving regular commuters in the wake of the signing of the free trade agreement between Sri Lanka and India. - news@khaleejtimes.com

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