Owner of Six Inter Island Vessel, the DSS Managing with Only One

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After Undertaking Major Repairs of MV Dering in Port Blair, Why is the SCI Deciding to Shift the Vessel to Kolkata?

Port Blair, Dec. 28: The Directorate of Shipping Services has a total of 6 ships in the Inter Island Sector viz. MV Campbell Bay, MV Bharat Seema, MV Kalighat, MV Sentinel, MV Chowra and MV Dering. Out of the 6, at present only one is in operation in the islands i.e. MV Sentinel. The remaining four are in the mainland for dry dock repairs and one remains idle at Port Blair.

Out of the four vessels in the mainland, two vessels MV Kalighat and MV Bharat Seema have been under repair in the mainland for almost 16 months since August 2019. The remaining two ships i.e. MV Chowra and MV Campbell Bay are in the mainland for over two months now, while the last remaining ship i.e. MV Dering has been lying idle at Junglighat Jetty for almost two years for repairs.

Reports indicate that in November 2020 the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) conducted the dry docking of MV Dering in the Marine Dockyard at Port Blair, after 18 months of remaining idle. The SCI had ensured that almost all major repair works are completed. But in spite of spending a huge fortune of the A&N Administration in repairing MV Dering at Port Blair, now it is learnt that the SCI is planning to move MV Dering to Kolkata for dry dock in the name of deck repair works. Sources inform that the deck repair works can be done in Port Blair itself if SCI is willing to go in for it. It is also learnt that deck repair works have been undertaken many times in the islands for various ships plying in the inter-island sector. 

In such a situation wherein marine workshops are available in Port Blair, one fails to understand as to why the SCI is deciding to shift the vessel MV Dering to Kolkata for further repairs? Moreover, if the vessel had to be shifted to mainland, what made the SCI wait for two long years, after spending a huge fortune of A&N Administration on repairs, to decide on shifting, especially when the remaining works in the vessel can be achieved in the islands itself?