Urban Transport Infrastructure November 2018 Urban Transport Infra November 2018 | Page 31

Shipping & Ports
Gadkari inaugurates India’s first luxury
Angriya cruise service between Mumbai-Goa
- Urban Transport News | www.urbantransportnews.com
T
he Mumbai Port Trust has
opened its newly-
refurbished Domestic Cruise
Terminal and is preparing
to give green signal to India’s first
luxury cruise ship ‘Angria’ (between
Mumbai to Goa). Union Minister of
Road Transport, Highway and
Shipping Nitin Gadkari inaugurated
the cruise service on Saturday.
However, the commercial launch of
the cruise service started from
October 24 and now you are able to
enjoy a trip to the luxury cruise. This
is part of the Indian government’s
plan to develop Cruise Tourism as a
major means of raising revenue for
India. At present, work is going on in
the 3 coastal cities of India – cruise
service in Mumbai, Chennai, and
Kochi. In these three cities, basic
infrastructure is already available in
terms of cruise service.
Great opportunities for cruise tourism
in India
More than 2.6 million Indians
traveled abroad in 2017 and less than
1.5 million of them went to the cruise.
However, the cruise holiday trade is
now catching up and this year, 2 lakh
WWW.URBANTRANSPORTNEWS.COM
Indians are expected to go to the cruise.
Cruise
service
is
becoming
increasingly popular in the last few
years. This year, around 27 million
tourists worldwide are expected to go to
the cruise service. Last year more than
14 lakh tourists went to the cruise.
However, the number of Indians going
on the cruise is low. In 2017, only 1.4
lakh Indians went on the cruise,
whereas in Japan it was more than 43
lakhs. In this view, there are
opportunities for cruise tourism in
India and the Government of India is
working on the scheme to redeem this
opportunity.
Cruise named in memory of Maratha
Admiral
The name of the cruise is Angria,
which is named after Admiral Kanhoji
Angre of Maratha Navy, the name of
the coral reef between Maharashtra and
Goa is also the Angria Bank. This
cruise was made in Japan in 1997.
Earlier, cruise service was introduced
between Goa and Mumbai in 1991. At
that time, two ships, Konkan Shakti
and Konkan Sevaks traveled between
Mumbai and Goa. It took 24 hours to
travel between the two cities. But this
31
journey from Angriya Cruise completed
in only 16 hours.
Luxury facilities to meet in Cruise
In addition to the 8 restaurants and
bars in the cruise, there is a 24-hour
coffee shop on the deck. Apart from
this, the guests’ choice dish will also be
found on the cruise. The cruise also has
a swimming pool, modern lounge and
amusement room. The cruise is
decorated with beautiful petting and
pictures.
400 passengers capacity
This cruise has a capacity of 400
passengers. This cruise takes 16 hours
to reach Goa from Mumbai. The cruise
speed is 30 to 32 kilometers per hour.
One way ticket from 7000 to 12000
rupees
One side fare from the cruise is
ranged from 7 thousand to 12 thousand
rupees. Separate fares for different
categories of cruise service. Ticket fare
is included meals, refreshments, and
breakfast. The cruise ship is running 4
times in a week. The cruise will be
operated only when the weather is
clear. Accordingly, the cruise will be
operated between October and May.
Urban Transport Infrastructure | November 2018