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Wooden boats soon to be a thing of past

While a wooden boat cost above RS 50 lakh, a steel boat requires only Rs 38 lakh onwards

Kochi: Wooden boats, which once formed the entire fleet of the state water transport department (SWTD), are slowly fading into memory. They are being replaced by steel and fibreglass crafts and now only 20 remain.

“They were considered a safe option since they won’t sink instantly like an iron boat. Though there is no policy decision, the department started purchasing steel and fibreglass ones since 2002 when boats over 25 years were replaced,” SWTD director Shaji V. Nair said.

What led to their dwindling fortunes was the closure of a manufacturing yard at Sakthikulangara in Kollam.

“They were the only professional group engaged in wooden boat manufacturing in the state. Though masons build the boats, they are not professionally qualified for the department to give orders. Another factor is the shortage and high cost of teak,” traffic superintendent Joseph Xavier said.

While a wooden boat cost above RS 50 lakh, a steel boat requires only Rs 38 lakh onwards. “We try our level best to maintain the remaining wooden crafts by promptly doing repair and overhauling from time to time.

Some of them have crossed 25 years in service and they need to be replaced,” Mr Nair said. However, passengers always prefer more comfortable wooden boats to the modern ones.

“Look at the private tourist operators; they are all using wooden boats. You can notice rust in the hull of steel boats even a year old. Now they are going to withdraw another one, K 54, which will go under the hammer. Most such boats finally end up as houseboats,” Pashchima Kochi Passengers Association president S. Padmanabha Mallya said.

( Source : deccan chronicle )
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