India Launches Its First Ro-Ro Ferry Project
Image Courtesy: Essar PortsIndia inaugurated its first Ro-Ro ferry project, set to decrease travel time between Gujarat’s Gogha and Dahej ports, on October 22.
The Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) project is expected to cut the travel time between the ports from 7 hours to 2.5 hours, according to Essar Projects, the project’s principal engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor.
The Ro-Ro ferry service will be able to carry about 500 passengers and 100-150 vehicles on each trip across the Gulf of Khambhat over a 30-km navigational channel created on the sea. Once services commence, the ferry is expected to do four round trips every day.
Essar Projects’ EPC contract included the construction of the Ro-Ro terminals and supporting onshore infrastructure at Dahej and Ghogha. The company designed and constructed the Ro-Ro terminals at both ports, as well as the approach bunds, trestles, pontoons and link spans.
The project “will stand up to extreme tidal variations and inhospitable weather conditions, as also enable South Asia’s first truly world-class Ro-Ro ferry service,” Shailesh Sawa, CEO-EPC Constructions India, a subsidiary of Essar Projects, said.
