In two weeks, New Mangalore Port receives 3 cruise vessels with over 1,700 passengers

The current financial year has attracted more than 1,000 cruise passengers from various parts of the world to the New Mangalore port and its surrounding areas.

In the first two weeks of the current financial year, the New Mangalore port handled three cruise vessels.

The first cruise vessel of the current fiscal –

m.v. Albatros – with 573 German tourists called at the port on April 6. This was followed by m.v. Sea Bourn Pride with 176 European tourists on April 10.

On April 13, the luxury cruise vessel

m.v. Aida Aura called at the port with 965 German tourists on board.

Mr S. Gopalakrishna, Traffic Manager of the New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT), said that of the 1,714 passengers called at the port in these three vessels, around 1,100 passengers opted for ground tour.

They visited places such as Thousand-pillar Jain Basadi and Soan's Farm in Moodbidri near Mangalore, and Gokarnanatha Temple, St Aloysius Chapel and Kadri Manjunatha Temple in Mangalore, he said.

For m.v. Albatros, New Mangalore was the first port of call in the country. He said that the vessel came directly from Colombo to New Mangalore.

As many as 76 passengers from this vessel disembarked at the New Mangalore Port, and took a flight to Delhi. However, they embarked the same vessel at Mumbai, he said.

Mr P. Tamilvanan, Chairman of the NMPT, said that the arrival of three cruise vessels during at the beginning of the current financial year is very encouraging.

He appreciated the efforts made by the State Government for arranging immigration facilities at Mangalore for the smooth handling of m.v. Albatros, for which New Mangalore was the first port of call in the country.

It may be mentioned here that the port handled 14 cruise vessels with 5,854 passengers during 2010-11.