Cochin Shipyard building 4 ships for Andaman & Nicobar

Cochin Shipyard Limited is constructing four passenger-cum-cargo vessels for the Andaman and Nicobar Administration under the 'Make in India' initiative, the government said on Friday.

The vessels would be ready before 2020.

While two of these vessels will have a capacity of 500-persons-cum-150-tonne-cargo, the other two will have a capacity of 1200-persons-cum-1000-tonne-cargo, a statement from the Shipping Ministry said.

While the construction of the smaller vessels is already going on, the construction of the larger set of vessels will start in June.

"All efforts are being made to put the vessels into service ahead of their scheduled delivery year of 2020," the Ministry said.

While the larger vessels will ply between the mainland and the islands -- and will also be capable of making international voyages -- the smaller vessels would be employed for inter-island service.

"They (smaller vessels) will also be capable of making occasional voyages between mainland and islands," the Ministry said.

It added that these ships would have state-of-the-art facilities for passengers and comply with latest international and national rules and regulations.

--IANS

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