Catamaran ferries make their foray into Kochi

The State Water Transport Department’s (SWTD) fleet of seven steel boats in Kochi will be replaced in six months by modern catamaran vessels made of fibre-reinforced plastic, which provide added comfort and safety, the agency’s director, Shaji V. Nair, has said. Similarly, the demand to dredge the water body near the Mattancherry boat Jetty is being repeatedly taken up with the Irrigation Department so that ferries can safely call at the jetty. The Irrigation Department has said that the work was recently tendered, he added, at a function held at Fort Kochi to launch a pair of catamaran ferries - the first vessels of their kind from the SWTD stable.