SWTD to launch its first solar-powered boat in Kochi

The Kerala State Water Transport department (SWTD) will soon launch its first solar-powered boat to operate in the Kochi backwaters.

The vessel that Kochi would get is from among the 18 solar-powered boats for which the department had placed orders, it is learnt. On whether the boat that would be launched here would operate as a regular ferry from the city to West Kochi, considering repeated complaints from passengers about an acute ferry shortage in the corridor, SWTD Director Arun J.O. said the State government would take a call on whether to operate it as a ferry or to deploy it as a tourist vessel.

The agency has, during the past many decades, been operating diesel ferries in the region, primarily linking the city with West Kochi.

Mr. Arun said the government would take a call on the routes as well for the forthcoming solar ferry and other such ferries that are in different stages of construction. “Once they are built, the firm must hand over each ferry’s completion certificate, which would be followed by trial runs in order to adhere to the Indian Register of Shipping and Kerala Inland Vessels rules. A technical committee appointed by the government would then inspect each vessel, after which the SWTD would insure them prior to their launch,” he added.

The agency had deployed a solar-powered boat for ‘Kuttanad Safari’, a tourism package that it runs, while two others, including Aditya that won the globally acclaimed Gussies Electric Boat Award, 2022, had been deployed in the commercial ferry category.

Cost advantage

Apart from causing no sound or air pollution, solar-powered boats have a rock-bottom daily operational expense of approximately ₹450 for grid charging when needed, vis-à-vis approximately ₹12,000 needed for diesel, said Sandith Thandassery, chief executive officer of Navalt, the firm that was awarded the SWTD’s contract to build the 18 solar-powered ferries. “This works out to a saving of ₹40 lakh per boat annually. The mandatory inspections and trial runs of the newest boat that is ready for launch are over. Yet another 75-passenger boat would be delivered to the SWTD in October, to be followed by the handing over of a pair of 30-passenger vessels,” he added.