Cargo ferry service between Maldives, India officially launched

The cargo ferry service between Maldives and India has been officially launched.

The maiden voyage of the service was launched jointly by Minister of State for Shipping (Independent Charge) of India, Shri Mansukh L. Mandaviya and Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation of the Maldives, Aishath Nahula during a virtual ceremony on Monday.

Operated by the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), the cargo ferry vessel, ‘MCP Linz’ will connect Tuticorin and Cochin ports of India with Kulhudhufushi City and Madives capital, Malé City.

The combination vessel has the capacity to carry 380 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEUs) and 3,000 metric tons of bulk cargo and has a turnaround time of 10 – 12 days for its voyages.

‘MCP Linz’ is expected to dock at Kulhudhuffushi habor on September 26 and make its way to the Maldives capital, the arrival date is estimated to be September 28.

The vessel provides direct cargo connectivity between both countries on a “predictable” and “affordable basis” for the “very first time” and is expected to lower costs and times for traders in Maldives and India.

Discussions to initiate the service between both countries was held during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Maldives during 2019, after the PM’s address to the People’s Majlis. Following this, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the neighboring country’s shipping ministry and the transport ministry of Maldives.

Following this, a team from SCI had visited Maldives in July 2019 to undertake preliminary studies followed by a feasibility study on a cargo ferry service between India and the Maldives in early 2020.

In mid-August, the High Commission of India in the Maldives announced that cargo ferry services are to be launched between Maldives and India in September following a virtual meeting between External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid.

India will subsidize the service at approximately USD three million.

The cargo ferry service is deemed a key instrument to upgrade the trade partnership and liberate logistics on both sides. The service connectivity to the northern port of Kulhudhuffushi will “underpin the economic development” in the north of Maldives and facilitate investments in tourism and other engines of prosperity, alongside the expansion of the Hanimaadhoo Airport through an Indian Line of Credit.

Further, the service will provide opportunities for Maldvian exporters of tuna and other marine products, to scope the vast Indian market and expand to Europe through Cochin and Tuticorin port. Cochin port has a weekly connectivity to Europe through a 6,500 TEU vessel.

The cargo ferry service has been described as another commitment delivered by India to connect markets of both countries and unlock trade and investment potential between both countries.

It will also strengthen people-to-people contact for mutual prosperity and manifests the synergies between India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy and the Maldives’ ‘India First’ policy under the leadership of PM Modi and President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

The island nation’s Tourism Minister Dr. Abdulla Mausoom had also highlighted that the operation of the service has great potential for tourism and trade and that more hotel room beds are required to be established in Thiladhunmathi atoll for a “mega super speed passenger ferry” to be feasible. In this regard, the minister expressed hope that the government will be successful in adding more beds by mid 2022.

India is currently the fourth largest trading partner of the Maldives, having traded for centuries under close historical and cultural ties.

The neighboring nation had imported goods worth MVR 4.4 billion to the Maldives during last year which includes food supply, construction goods, cosmetics, clothing as well as medical consumables.

Maldives and India will celebrate 55 years since the establishment of formal diplomatic ties on November 1.