The Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) will function the ferry service. “The service would offer an excellent opportunity for the people of India and Sri Lanka to make a low-cost trip to Jaffna and Tamil Nadu,” an SCI doc stated.

The vessel for use because the ferry is known as Cheriyapani. The worth of a ticket is but to be revealed, however passengers will likely be allowed to take baggage weighing as much as 40 kg at no cost. The ferry can accommodate 150 passengers, stated Tamil Nadu Minister for Public Works E V Velu, who added that the state authorities was carefully related to the service.

The initiative is a revival of maritime connections that hint again to the early 1900s. The Indo-Ceylon Express or Board Mail, which operated between Chennai and Colombo through the Thoothukudi port, was halted in 1982 because of the civil warfare in Sri Lanka. The resumption of ferry providers follows the signing of an MoU on passenger transportation by sea, signed by the 2 international locations in 2011.

The plan was first mooted after the warfare in 2011, throughout a interval when Sri Lanka was earnestly trying to shed its picture as a “refugee-producing” nation. At the time, two providers have been on the playing cards – one between Thoothukudi and Colombo, and the opposite between Rameswaram and Talaimannar.

One of essentially the most profitable ferry providers that existed earlier than the Sri Lankan civil warfare ran between Dhanushkodi, close to Rameshwaram, and Talaimannar. People from Chennai would board the Boat Mail Express on the Egmore railway station to go to Rameshwaram and board the ferry. The journey from there to Talaimannar, on a coal-powered steam ferry, used to take roughly two hours.

The new ferry service is anticipated to spice up spiritual tourism, commerce, and commerce within the coastal areas of each international locations. With the ferry service positioned as a cheap mode of journey, tour operators are additionally anticipated to leap in. Budget travellers from Tamil Nadu and different components of India can discover outstanding locations of worship in Colombo and the southern areas of Sri Lanka. Also, pilgrims from Sri Lanka will discover simpler entry to pilgrimage websites similar to Nagapattinam, Nagore, Velankanni, Thirunallar, and past, together with the historic websites of the temple cities of Thanjavur, Madurai and Tiruchi.