MUMBAI: Mumbai Port Trust has in a historic move extended its capacity to berth two longer cruise ships at its twin berths of BPS and BPX. This has enabled Costa Victoria (829 feet) and Karnika (805 feet) ships to berth today at BPX and BPS.
Hitherto the maximum permissible length of two ships at the above two designated berths was 1450 feet. Thus if Costa Victoria occupies BPX berth then in the balance length of 621 feet of BPS berth a longer ship like Karnika could not be berthed. Eventually this part of the berth would go unutilized and at the same time, the longer ship like Karnika, which could not be accommodated at the balance length of the berth required to be accommodated in another non-cruise berth, far away from the Green Gate – the entry and exit point of the Port for Cruise passengers. This created inconvenience to the passengers and added costs to the Operators.
In a historic step under the guidance of Chairman, Mumbai Port Trust Mr. Sanjay Bhatia, IAS, the Port took up the job of extending the BPS berth towards the Mole station and Lock-gate by about 200 feet. This single feat will enable more longer ships to be accommodated at BPX and BPS berths simultaneously, increasing the passenger satisfaction and saving the costs to the operators.
Cruise tourism is a focus area and Mumbai Port Trust is leveraging its location and facilities to cater to this sunrise business in India. Mumbai Port Trust is developing into a Port of choice for home-porting and turn-around operations of Cruise ships which in turn is supporting the economic development and job creations, not only in major tourist areas but also by development along the newer coastal destinations as Ganpatipule and Diu.
Mumbai Port Trust is constructing a state-of-art Cruise terminal of approximately 4 lakhs square feet which shall also be open to city’s folks to relish a beautiful sea view of harbour while shopping or dining. The facility is likely to be operation by Dec 2020.
The Cruise business in Mumbai, used to see annual visit of 40 odd ships a year until two years ago. It is now skyrocketing with 106 ship calls in last year and this year expecting about 250 ship calls, said a Mumbai Port Press Release.
