International luxury Cruise ship ‘MS Amera’ made her first call to VOC Port, Tuticorin, on Wednesday the 11th January, 2022, carrying 698 passengers and 386 crew members on-board.
The guests onboard ‘MS Amera’ were traditionally welcomed with ‘Nathaswara Mangala Isai’ and folk dance, at the Additional Berth of the Port. All infrastructure facilities were arranged for Immigration Department, Customs and Port Health Organisation, by the Port Authority to ensure seamless arrival & departure of the guests and to make the trip a memorable experience.
To Honour the maiden call of the Cruise vessel, Mr. T.K. Ramachandran, IAS, Chairman, VOC Port Authority, and the Captain of the vessel ‘MS Amera’, Capt. Hubert Flohr, exchanged the commemorative plaques in a function at the Berth.
The Bahamas flagged ‘MS Amera’, with a length of 204 Metre and maximum air draft of 44.8 metres, has 13 decks and 413 cabins with capacity to transit 835 passengers, is capable of travelling at maximum speed of 20.5 Knots ( 38 km/h). The Ship operated by Bernhard Schulte Cruise Services, Germany, has three restaurants, Show-Lounge, Library, Sports, Beauty & Wellness area, and Swimming pools.
The passengers were predominantly from Germany, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. In addition, 5 passengers have also embarked from Tuticorin. Around 70 tourists went to Tirunelveli to visit Holy Trinity Church and Nellaiappar Temple and more than 200 tourists visited Lady of Snows Church and other places of interest at Tuticorin. Local Guides were also arranged through Ministry of Tourism.
Mr. T.K. Ramachandran, IAS, Chairman, VOC Port Authority, in his message conveyed that “We are delighted to welcome ‘MS Amera’ on its Maiden call to VOC Port, Tuticorin. Considering the various tourist attractions and idyllic destinations in this southern part of the Tamilnadu, the Port is working with various cruise operators to increase such cruise vessel calls to VOC Port, Tuticorin, in the near future”.
The Vessel Agent M/s. JM Baxi, thanked the Port Authorities and officials for ensuring a well co-ordinated and smooth dis-embarkation and embarkation of the tourists and for safe handling of the cruise vessel on par with international standards.
The cruise that started from the Port of Nice, France on 22.12.2022, travelled through various Ports in Malta, Egypt, and Oman, had reached Mumbai on 08.01.2023, and called at Cochin on 10.01.2023. and Tuticorin on 11.01.2023. The vessel left VOC Port at 19.00 Hrs. on 11.01.2023 for Colombo and further eastwards. The Cruise ‘MS Amera’ is on a 125 day World Cruise from Nice (France) to Bremerhaven (Germany) from 22/12/2022 to 26/04/2023, covering 25 Countries around the world.
Shri Bimal Kumar Jha, Deputy Chairman, VOC Port Authority,
Mr. M. Radhakrishnan, DSP, Immigration Department, T.Siddharthan, Deputy Commissioner, Customs, Dr. P.Poornima, Port Health Officer, Mr. R. Pabakar, Traffic Manager, Capt. Praveen Kumar Singh, Deputy Conservator, Mr. K. Ravikumar, Chief Engineer, Mr. V.Suresh Babu, Chief Mechanical Engineer, Mr. Giriraj Singh Rathod, Secretary, and other senior officials also were present.
