COMMENTARY
INTERVIEW
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Hydrofoil service in Kerala

The Kerala government has cleared the proposal of a non-resident Indian to introduce a hydrofoil service connecting Thiruvananthapuram, located in the state's southern-most district, to the northern district of Kasargod. The service along the Thiruvananthapuram-Kochi-Kozhikode-Kasargod sea front, is scheduled to be launched in January 1998.

The hydrofoil service will have technical collaboration with a Russian firm. The Russians run a hydrofoil service on the Volga river. The technical study for running the service along the Kerala coast was done by Russian experts Slog Kassarov and Vassily Trikkove. They finalised the report after discussions with the Cochin Port Trust and the Directorate of Ports.

The project is scheduled to be launched is two stages. In the first stage, the hydrofoil service will run between Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode. The journey time will be four hours by hydrofoil compared to the five hours by the railways. The journey cost will be the same as a second class railway ticket.

Earlier, truck manufacturers Ashok Leyland had suggested a hovercraft service, but the idea was dropped as it interfered with the fishing activities along the coast. The initial proposal for the hydrofoil service came from the Britain-based Crawford Agency.

The project technical partner will own 52 per cent share in the joint venture and the rest will be held by financial institutions, the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, non-resident Indians, and the public. The service will initially have two boats with the capacity of 155 seats each.

The hydrofoil is a water blade or sea wing, which passes under the ship. When at rest, the craft is a conventional displacement ship at rest. When it moves forward, it is thrust upwards by water passing over the numerous curved steel foils fixed to vertical members in the form of ladders. As the ship gains speed, the upward thrust gradually increases, pushing the front part of the ship out of the water. Eventually, a stabilising point is reached with the full ladders roughly half in and half out of the water. The bulk of the ship will be clear of the water, supported mainly on the foils. Due to the reduced drag, the ship moves at great speed.

The project is a pet scheme of Chief Minister E K Nayanar, who spent much time scouting Europe for similar crafts. The service is expected to boost tourism.

The government is already developing Bakel town in Kasargod as an international tourism centre at a cost of Rs 10 billion. The state government has also proposed a domestic air service, to be run by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, connecting the important tourism spots in the state.