Kochi: Row over damaged RO-RO

Kochi: Even as the modern RO-RO (roll on-roll off) vessels are being efficiently used in other parts of the country for cargo and passenger movement, the Kochi Corporation and the Kerala State Inland Navigation Corporation are at loggerheads over starting the full-fledged operation of the two vessels built by Cochin Shipyard Limited for the civic body.

Though the first vessel was commissioned amid much fanfare in April, the service had to be stopped on the inaugural day itself due to a shortage of trained staff. Later, the service has been resumed in the second week of May.

However, the second vessel could not be launched yet in the absence of trained staff to operate it. Now, the civic body and KSINC are locking horns over the delay in beginning operations of the second vessel, which got damaged during the trial run and now kept at CSL’s dockyard.

Mayor Soumini Jain said the KSINC had damaged the vessel during the training and the agency was not keen on launching the service. 

“The agency has no trained staff to operate the second vessel, and it is silent on when it will be able to begin the full-fledged service. The damaged vessel is now docked at the shipyard, and the repairing works have not begun yet. The CSL authorities said that it would take nearly a month to complete the repair works,” she told DC.

Meanwhile, a senior official with KSINC refuted the allegations saying that the vessel got damaged due to lack of proper depth at the Vypin jetty side. He also added the KSINC would have to spend nearly '20 lakh as repairing cost for the Ro-Ro vessel.