India’s largest RO-PAX ferry service to be launched in Gujarat

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani will launch country’s largest RO-PAX ferry service on October 27 from the Ghogha Terminal in Saurashtra.

The vessel ‘Voyage Symphony’ will sail for its maiden journey from Ghogha to Dahej with passengers as well as multi-wheeled cargo. It has a capacity to load 60 trucks, 5-7 buses, 35-40 cars, 40 bikes and a cumulative capacity to carry 525 passengers on board per voyage.

Termed as the largest in the country by its size, the RO-PAX ferry service will reduce the travel time for cargo and passengers from 10 -12 hours by road to just 1.5 hours between Ghogha and Dahej.

The operator, Indigo Seaways Pvt Ltd, an arm of Surat-based Detox group, has entered into an exclusive PPP agreement to ply on the given route and has a revenue sharing contract with the Gujarat government’s ports authority, Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB).

The tariff fixed by the operator varies from ₹4,500 for multi-wheeled cargo (empty) buses and trucks, ₹800 for cars, ₹150 for two-wheelers. While for passengers the one-way ticket charges range between ₹200 and ₹400, depending on the class of travel.

A High Speed ‘Passenger’ Ferry Service (RO-RO) on the same route was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 22 last year.

The vessel is of 2015 make and built in South Korea with an approximate length of 110 metre and gross registered tonnage of 6,543 tonnes and draft of 3.8 metres.

The RO-PAX Ferry is a double-ended ferry that sails at an average speed of 15-17 knots with a sea transit time of 1 hour between Dahej & Ghogha ports.