Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

HSL-built passenger ship flagged off

Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

Happy sailing: Union Minister of State for Home Radhika Selvi at HSL in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. -

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) achieved a milestone with the flagging off of a 700-passenger vessel, mv Kavaratti, by Radhika Selvi, Union Minister of State for Home, at a glittering function here on Sunday.

Ms. Selvi in her address said the ship built and designed by HSL at a cost of Rs.173 crore would be a boon for the Union Territory of Lakshadweep in boosting its revenue from tourism and provide connectivity to the group of islands in Lakshadweep to the mainline.

She said the ship’s delivery scheduled for February 2003 was delayed inordinately due to price escalation and declared that the UPA Government had revised the price to complete the construction on a fast track basis.

Lakshadweep Administrator B.V. Selvaraj said the people of the island were looking forward to the delivery of the cruise liner with pride.

He said this was their most modern and large ship and eleventh one acquired in one year. The ship had a 100-member crew and apart from this would also provide indirect employment to 300 to 400 people.

The ship is 120 metres long with a speed of 17 knots.

The unique feature of the ship is that it can not only carry 700 passengers with the great configuration of cabin and bulk class accommodation but also has cargo carrying capacity of 200 tonnes.

It has modern amenities like a passenger liner such as lounge, galleys, dining halls, recreation space, swimming pool and a helicopter deck.

The fully air-conditioned ship has been built with world-class facilities.

As passenger vessels are generally considered to be at the highest end of the scale in shipbuilding and the most difficult in design, only a few yards in the world have the capability to take up such orders.

Mayor P. Janardhana Rao, District Collector Sanjay Kumar, Lakshadweep MP P.P. Koya, Lakshadweep district panchayat president and chief counsellor Muthu Koya and HSL Director (technical) Naresh Kumar and others were present.

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