After a pandemic hiatus of two years, international cruise ships are back with port calls to India, specifically to Mumbai. On Sunday, the first such luxury liner, MV Viking Mars, docked at the Mumbai Port with 834 passengers onboard.

“A total of 28 international cruise ships are scheduled to visit Mumbai in the season that started last month,” said UR Mohan Raju, Secretary, Mumbai Port Authority. The sailing season will continue up to May 2023, before the monsoon season of choppy seas sets in.

In 2019-20, five Indian Ports handled a total of 149 international ship movements with 2,26,329 passengers. Of these, the majority of them were handled by Mumbai and Cochin ports with 44 each, followed by Mormugao, New Mangalore and Chennai ports (38, 21 and 2, respectively).

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, sailings were suspended across the world. Earlier this year, during one of the domestic sailings on Cordelia cruise ship from Goa to Mumbai, 143 passengers had tested positive for coronavirus, other than 66 others who were already tested positive in Goa.

To establish sailings on luxury liners and India as a cruise hub, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has taken various measures to attract operators. On offer are guaranteed berths to cruise ships, waiver of ousting charges, e-Visa implementation, rationalisation of cruise tariff, standard operation procedure, and pre-defined processes at the ports.

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Passenger terminal is also getting redeveloped in Mumbai with the old structure demolished and the works on the new terminal in advanced stages. The new Mumbai International Cruise Terminal will be spread over 4.15 lakh sqft with modern facilities at a cost of Rs495 crore. It is scheduled to be ready by July 2024.

The other ports where modernisation and upgradation of cruise terminals is underway include Chennai, Mormugao, Cochin, Visakhapatnam and New Mangalore.

The Union government is focusing on the passenger shipping segment with a target to handle about 955 ships ferrying four million passengers by 2041. The Mumbai Port is expected to handle around 700 ships and 3.2 million passengers.

In the post-pandemic era, medical protocol will have to be followed as a safety measure, with passengers submitting self-declarations regarding symptoms of Covid-19 and monkeypox.

Travellers will also be asked to submit a negative Covid-19 Rt-PCR report within 72 hours prior to undertaking a journey or submit a full primary Covid-19 vaccination certificate.

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