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cruise terminal for Kochi
by Juhan Samuel
Kochi (Kerala): Britain's cruise vessel Queen Elizabeth 2 has docked at Kerala's Kochi Port even as plans are afoot to create an international cruise terminal. The vessel, considered to be the fastest ocean liner in the world, arrived at Kochi with over 1500 passengers and at least 1000 crew members on board from Sri Lankan capital Colombo. The Queen Elizabeth 2 is the 22nd vessel to call at Kochi since April 2005 and officials are hoping to receive more premium liners in the future. "What we are planning now is to make a cruise terminal - just next to this berth. That will be around 200 m berth where we are going to have something like a terminal- cum- mall, a convention centre, which will be in a very big way. You see what is happening - just now I noticed that lot of passengers are old and all of them do no like to go out, they like to stay onboard and enjoy the facilities available onboard. What we are trying to do from the port is to bring the facilities which are available in Kerala as close to the port as possible," said Subhash Kumar, the Deputy Chairman of the Kochi Port Trust.
The
berth, which is about 170 meters away from the shore, would be able to
receive vessels 300 meters long and with a 32-metre beam. The cruise terminal
would be set up on the land to be reclaimed on an area of about 5 hectares.
It would be modern and of world- class standards, capable of hosting a
minimum of 2,500 passengers at a time. The new cruise terminal is expected
to have information kiosks, a prepaid taxi counter, stalls/shops selling
handicrafts and curios. In the off-season, the cruise terminal will double
as a convention centre and a shopping mall. Kumar added that it had obvious
advantages over other ports in the country, as it was closer to the international
shipping route. With yet another cruise season coming to an end, Kochi
port retained its position as the country's number one cruise port. This
year, it received 22 calls, compared to 18 last year. The number of tourist
arrivals registered a two-fold increase, from 8,862 during 2003-04, to
15,575 in 2004-05. At least 40 international cruise liners are expected
to call at the Kochi port next year. For the last five years, the port
hosted the maximum number of cruise calls compared to any other Indian
port, emerging as the most preferred cruise port. This year, most of the
vessels calling the port had passengers taking the "cruise-fly-cruise"
option, and flying either to Delhi or Agra. The continual improvement
in the service standards and passenger facilities has made Kochi the most
cruise-friendly port.
-Mar 28, 2006
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