The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) is keen on enhancing connectivity with Indian ports using ferry services to facilitate easier trade and tourism, its chairman Kavan Ratnayaka said.
“If the two countries can set up a ferry service connecting Kankesanthurai port (KKS) in Jaffna with Karaikal near Puducherry, and similarly between Colombo and Tuticorin in south India, there is scope for increased trade activity and tourism,” he told The Hindu.
The ferry connection, he said, would primarily facilitate tourism and small-scale trade both ways. “It will help especially with Buddhist tourism from the south of the island, and by extension people-to-people connections,” he said. Further, the KKS Port will facilitate increased trade opportunities for communities living in proximity to the port and reduce the cost of road and rail transport for bulk items such as cement. In 2011, India and Sri Lanka launched a ferry service between Tuticorin and Colombo, but it was soon terminated after private operators running it said it was not commercially viable.
