Soon, you can sail to Karaikal to have a darshan of Lord Saturn at Tirunallar temple. The Karaikal port has been given in-principle approval by the ministry of home affairs for setting up immigration facilities at the port so that a passenger terminal could be started there.
Developed jointly by the government of Puducherry with MARG Group as private partner, the Karaikal port could be a gateway to Central Tamil Nadu for passengers who travel by ships. Further, the ships can also take passengers to high seas from Karaikal.
“The Union home ministry has asked us to set up the facilities at the port. We are in the process of setting up infrastructure and train manpower at the port,” said Ms M. Sathiyavathy, chief secretary, Puducherry.
She said the Puducherry government was keen on the project, as it would be a window for tourists to visit pilgrimage centres in and around Karaikal and also in nearby TN districts like Nagore, Velankanni and tourist spots like Tranquebar.
M.L.N. Acharyulu, MARG Group’s executive director — marine infrastructure, said the port already had facilities for handling passenger ships.
“We have a small berth initially planned to handle offshore supply vessels and project cargo. We handle only clean cargo in the berth. So, it will be used for docking passenger vessels,” he added.
On the facilities for immigration officials, Mr Acharyulu said an existing building at the port could be used to house immigration officials in the beginning and later a separate facility could be created for them.
Mr Acharyulu further noted that Amet Cruises had shown interest in using Karaikal as port of call for its cruise ship. “Once the port is notified as a passenger terminal, then we can expect more enquiries from tourist operators and cruise ships,” he added.
Karaikal port, a relatively new port that has emerged on the east coast, handles coal, fertiliser, sugar, petroleum products, edible oil and general cargo.