TravTalk India Online Magazine
With the upgradation of Mumbai port passenger terminal, the international cruise traffic will increase this year to more than one million passengers per annum, says Rajiv Jalota, Chairman, Mumbai Port Trust, adding that India has one of the lowest cruise tariffs in the world and is the only country that offers a composite cruise tariff.
Hazel Jain
“India has the potential to become an exceptional cruise tourism destination. One of the studies, which was undertaken by my predecessor Sanjay Bhatia in 2016-17, had predicted that India’s cruise tourism industry has tremendous potential, and the growth may be 10-fold in the next decade, says Rajiv Jalota, Chairman, Mumbai Port Trust.
Lakshadweep opens up
With Cordelia Cruises opening the gates for Lakshadweep, now Costa Serena will sail to the Lakshadweep. “In fact, the Andaman islands and Puducherry are also popular destinations for cruising and are being demanded by lots of cruise lines. Cruise lines are willing to homeport of east coast of India. With various bold initiatives taken by the Central government, India is ready for cruising. India is working on enhancing the current cruise tourism eco-system to facilitate the anticipated growth. Our ministry has formed an apex body and to help this body, there is a high-level advisory committee. Costa and Carnival members are also part of this advisory committee. Cruise vessel handling terminals with all amenities at ports for facilitating cruise business and ease of movement of passengers are being developed at our seven major ports – Mumbai, Goa, Mangalore, Kochi, Chennai, Vizag and Kolkata,” he said.
Port infrastructure
The upgraded port infrastructure in Mumbai will support proper berthing of cruise vessels and facilities required by cruise vessels such as immigration, customs, waste discharge, provision of loading proper arrangements for embarking and disembarking of cruise passengers and movement of such tourists for sight-seeing. Upgradation and modernisation of the cruise infrastructure is being undertaken at all these ports to handle bigger vessels, and a larger volume of passenger traffic with reduced turnaround time.
Jalota adds, “In fact, the Mumbai Port has also embarked on a study on provisioning of shore power for cruise vessels and in a couple of years, we may be in a position to provide shore power to them. We also intend to undertake a study along with Indian Port Association and Director General of Shipping on how ship to ship transfer of LNG to cruise vessels is also possible. This is because the new cruise vessels that are being ordered across the globe are becoming LNG compliant and that is why we have to be ready to provide this facility and all across our major ports.”
Most of the cruise traffic in India is generated in Mumbai, Mormugao, Kochi and New Mangalore. “With the commissioning of our dedicated Mumbai international cruise terminal at Indira Dock, by the end of 2023 or early 2024, the international cruise traffic is expected to get a boost. This terminal will have the capacity to handle 1 million passengers per annum and cruise ships with capacity of up to 10,000 passengers,” Jalota adds.
There have been several improvements such as the various immigration and customs regulations being liberated, cabotage relaxation regime has been given up to 2029, and discounted tariff policy. “In fact, we have the lowest cruise tariff rates across the world in India, and which is a composite tariff. No other country offers a composite cruise tariff and we were the first to start this. Plus, our apex committee has also directed us to further ease these standard operating procedures across various ports as far as immigration, customs, and security is concerned. And before the new cruise season starts from this October, we will be in a position to update these SOPs,” he says.
The first Incredible India International Cruise Conference was organised in May 2022 in Mumbai. The second edition will be held in November 2023. “We believe that this year India will also cross pre-COVID cruise passenger numbers. And the number of cruise calls that are going to happen in the coming cruise season is also very encouraging. We have reports of 39 international cruise calls and 100 domestic cruise calls,” Jalota says.
