By Rajnish Mishra

All seemingly not well for yet another pet project of PM Modi's, hiccups in Ro-Ro/Ro-Pax ferry likely to stay

Bhavnagar, Gujarat: Operation of the highly-publicized Ro-Pax and Ro-Ro Ferry services, in Gujarat’s Gulf of Cambay, have halted due to technical issues. Attempts to resume them are on, however, it seems that for various reasons, the 'hiccups' in yet another pet project of PM Narendra Modi will not end anytime soon.

When PM Modi inaugurated the first phase of this ambitious, Rs 600 crore PPP project on October 22, 2017, the journey ahead seemed seamless. The PPP is between the state government’s undertaking Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) and Surat-based Ferry operators Indigo Seaways Pvt Ltd (ISPL). At an average speed of 15-17 knots, the ferry reduced travel time for cargo and passengers from 10-12 hours to just around 1.5 hours. The only predictable concern was of the stiff challenge posed by the region’s highly turbulent sea.

Now, however, it seems that this passenger-only ferry service - the largest one in Indian waters - is facing a different set of challenges.

Highly placed sources within the parties involved in this operation have said that there were several conflicting issues among the stakeholders. The ISPL, who owns the two ships, was quite unhappy about the inefficient and irregular dredging, desilting of sea channels, and other infrastructure-related issues.

The 250 seater, Singapore-made 'Island Jade' Ro-Ro ferry, carried out its maiden sail between Ghogha, Bhavnagar, to Dahej in Bharuch district of south Gujarat, also had PM Modi onboard with other passengers. He, in his inaugural speech, talked at length about how this service has the potential to change the picture and future of coastal Gujarat. The PM said that when the ferry’s advanced version, the Ro-Pax service - which apart from passengers could also carry cargo, including trucks, buses and other vehicles - would start ferrying in the second phase, better results would be visible. He also talked about extending the service till Mumbai via Surat, and potentially replicating this in other areas along the state’s 1600 km coastline.

However, the Ro-Ro vessel during its initial run could not attract many passengers. As per official data received from the office of the Chairman cum MD of the ISPL, it performed quite poorly with less than 12% average occupancy. This comparatively lighter vessel is incapable of ferrying during the monsoon due to rough sea conditions, and took a long break during the rainy season this year. Along with Ro-Pax, the Ro-Ro ferry resumed services in October, but has been out of operation again since November 25 for scheduled maintenance and dry-docking.

The heavier Ro-Pax ferry is capable of sailing round the year, including in rough sea conditions. It was inaugurated as an extension of the Ro-Ro in the project’s second phase on October 27 this year, by Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani. It however, halted operation on November 21 when its ship, 'Voyage Symphony'- a Korean-made vessel with a carriage capacity of 525 passengers and over 100 vehicles - faced engine and shift cooling failure in the sea. With 461 passengers on board, it was, somehow, tugged back towards the Ghoga port. The ship has been anchored for repair ever since.

Now, less than a month since its inauguration, there are no ferry services available across the sea route. During operations, the vessels carried out two round trips daily.

Mukesh Kumar, GMB’s Vice Chairman & CEO, said that the under-repair Ro-Pax vessel would "hopefully start sailing in a week's time" after re-inspection and sea-trials. Kumar rejected claims that there was any problem with the dredging operation, but accepted that "of course there were challenges operating the ferry" in the second-most hostile sea region of the world. “It is being operated in a sea region where we see a difference of up to 11 meters in the tide level daily. We are not running a car on a smooth road surface. It is extremely challenging on all fronts and the challenges are going to stay as it is not a conventional operation,” he argued.    

Sources in the ISPL, meanwhile, have said that currently there are several problematic issues and the biggest among them is dredging, for which almost one third of the total project cost has been spent so far. “The project success hinges on the regulator (GMB) being able to maintain the minimum guaranteed depth of five meters in the channels close to ports at Chart datum ( when the water level of the sea tide was minimum), which is necessary for smooth operation of the service. Due to low water levels, there is also a fear of the heavy ship getting grounded or damaged due to undesired drift. The width of the channels was also less than what is ideally required,” the source claimed.

The ferry operator has written several times to authorities in this regard, sources have informed, adding that in the latest one, they have complained about “many a limitations in project infrastructure”. It also mentioned the incident of sudden breakage in the pontoon holding yoke on Dahej side. It happened just before Ro-Pax service's proposed inauguration on October 12 and delayed the launch by almost a fortnight.

Sources also claim that Canadian ferry operator, Black Bill, ISPL’s technical partners, had refused to sign certain agreement papers due to inadequate infrastructure, saying that there were “significant reputation risks” involved in doing so.

H C Rajpal, Superintending Engineer in-charge of GMB’s dredging department, accepted that there was a silt accumulation issue owing to natural reasons, but that dredging maintenance was conducted regularly. “The silt accumulation was more on Dahej side, owing to its closeness to the river’s mouth. But we are taking care of it and are maintaining the desired water level in sea channels on both sides,” he said, adding that after initial dredging before the service’s commencement, maintenance dredging is being carried out at regular intervals.

GMB’s Kumar said, “We are maintaining the uniform depth of five meters across the two channels. Had it not been so, the operation of such a heavy vessel of more than 6000 tons of weight and 3.8 m draft (the portion that remains inside the water), would not have been possible there.”

However, the same sources claim that dredging, for which crores of rupees have been spent, was not upto the mark, and that the schedules were often delayed as operators had to wait for a proper tide. Moreover, due to low depth, silt and plastic in the water, the cooling system’s pipe choked which led to the vessel stopping mid-sea on November 21. They also claimed that due to heavy silt, a tug operator was killed on October 25 during a trial exercise, just two days before its inauguration. The tug, which overturned, has not yet been removed from sea as it is still trapped in thick silt.

“Those in charge of dredging wait till the silt accumulates substantially. Why is the GMB not using services of any specialist from Dredging Corporation of India or an expert hydrographer of Indian Navy as is being done by several other maritime boards,” the sources question.