Govt floats cruise tourism plan along major ports
Cruise tourism, an unchartered territory of sorts, is expected to gain some momentum as the Centre plans to develop terminals at major ports to give a fillip to tourism.
A single entity will be entrusted with the job of executing the operation and maintenance contracts for the cruise terminals.
Essentially, cruise terminals at 4-5 ports would be operated and maintained by one player.
After consulting the state maritime boards and major port authorities, the ministry of shipping will execute the contracts. “The first tender is expected to be executed by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and the O&M tender would involve JNPT, Kochi, Kandla and Mangalore Port,” a shipping ministry official told Business Standard. A team of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore was in the capital earlier this month to meet Union shipping minister Nitin Gadkari. The minister said these terminals would be built by the government and be part of the O&M contracts for mainly international players who have the expertise to maintain them for a certain duration of time.
One terminal at the Mumbai port is being built by the government at an investment of ~1.97 billion. This will be tendered for an O&M contract upon completion.
The old terminal, which is spread across 10,000 square metres, was built in 1970. It will be demolished and the new terminal in its place will be 10 times bigger.
The old terminal also houses two warehouses (3,000 square metres each) that are used for cargo. The upgradation of the cruise terminal will be done in the next two years. Mumbai port will be established as the turnaround or home port, and ports in Goa, New Mangalore and Chennai will be ports of call where ships will come in the morning and leave by evening. Vessels cannot stay at a port of call for more than 12 hours. According to a shipping ministry report, of India’s total cruise passenger traffic, 80 per cent would be handled by the Mumbai port. In the next 25 years, the Mumbai port will need five terminals because the current passenger traffic of 200,000 is expected to climb to 4 million. Mumbai port will handle 3.2 million cruise passengers. The decision to award such contracts was preceded by a slew of reforms announced by the government in July last year to bring changes in the industry which has a high employment generation potential. The changes include simplifying the rules and procedures for cruise port operations.
The reforms are based on recommendations of a global consultant engaged by the shipping ministry to draw up an action plan for providing a customer-friendly and hassle-free logistics process for the cruise tourism industry.