[SJM1214]

Come May, Mumbaikars wanting to take their car to Alibaug won’t have to worry about driving for three hours. A roll-on-roll-off ship—popularly called RoRo—which can accommodate cars and private buses, is likely to be launched between the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) and Mandwa/Dighi by April-end or early May.

The Ro-Ro will have space for 10 buses, 40 cars and 250 passengers and reduce the journey to an hour. Sources said the rates would be finalised only through the tendering process, and are expected to be around Rs 300-400 for a car, Rs 700-800 for a bus and Rs 200-300 for an individual passenger.

TOI News.

[blackwasp]

Superb news! This has been a long awaited project to improve connectivity between Mumbai and Alibag. Currently speed boats and ferries ply between Gateway of India ? Ferry Wharf and Mandwa Jetty. People carry cycles and sometimes even two wheelers on this. However, a car carrier would enable those going towards Konkan / Goa region to cut down significantly on travel time.

Consider the 100+ km road distance between the two:


And less than 15 km via Sea:


A Ro-Ro stands for Roll on - Roll off, where vehicles can drive onto a ship via ramps. World over, such ships are used to traverse lakes, rivers, seas and oceans as well as to transport cars (say from a car factory). While some are small like this...


... there are massive ones with over 4000+ car capacity:


Recently, NYK shipping company opened a Ro-Ro terminal at Pipavav, Gujarat in 2015 to transport cars manufactured in the state. The first batch consisted of 1,380 Ford cars:


The MV Faust, meanwhile is one of the largest car carriers with a capacity for 8,000 cars or 3,484 cars and 468 buses:

[V.Narayan]

Encouraging to hear that we Indians are getting more sea minded and understanding that transportation by sea can have advantages over road and rail. With the exception of some areas like Assam, Bengal, Goa & Kerala we are a water transport averse nation despite having 5200 kms of rivers navigable by medium sized mechanized boats & barges and a further 4500 kms of canals that can operate smaller mechanized barges.

Water transport is by far the cheapest on fuel & horsepower when compared to rail and road. To share some rough numbers. A 7,500 shp diesel engine can propel a 35,000 tonne ship at a comfortable 21 kmph (~12 knots). This ship could carry a net payload of around 25,000 tonnes - 3.33 hp/tonne. A railway locomotive of 2000 shp could pull along a train of say 2500 tonnes at about 40 kmph 1.25 hp/tonne albeit at a slightly faster speed. A truck of 200 hp ?? There is no comparison.

Water transport especially at sea has the advantage of no signals, no traffic chokes, no waiting for another train with higher priority to pass etc. However unlike a truck in most cases it cannot do a door to door delivery. Each mode of transport has a role to play with regard to cost, bulk, door-to-door convenience etc. Nice to see we are looking at the sea as a highway.

[parassoni]

Any updates on this yet?? I know its not open but

[moralfibre]

While this is a good move, wait times for Ferry boats are high and no longer sustainable for the number of people Bombay carries. Especially those that travel out every weekend to take a breath. The toll traffic at Vashi bridge is what will end up at the ferry terminal should this RoRo service offer any hope to cut down time.

The long term and scalable solution is commissioning of MTHL - Mumbai Trans harbour link that will run between Sewri and Uran / JNPT / New Bombay. The blueprint can be seen in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cMQxFYSjyU

And the construction of the link has already commenced:

[TusharK]

According to a media report, the Ro-Ro service between Mumbai and Mandwa, in Alibaug is expected to start by the end of February 2020.



The ferry that will be put into service on this route has reportedly set sail from Greece and it is expected to arrive in Mumbai by February 12, 2020. The vessel can carry up to 500 passengers and 180 cars.

The ticket price for passengers will be Rs. 235, while cars will be charged between Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 1,500 depending on their size. The journey from Mumbai to Mandwa is expected to take between 50 minutes and 1 hour.

The Ro-Ro project was initially delayed after running into legal trouble. The infrastructure required for the project has already been completed more than a year ago.

Source

Link to Team-BHP News

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Finally some good news! Fantastic... opens up a lot of new vistas to explore and the plus point is that it beats mumbai traffic! For us from South Mumbai, it's the best news possible!

[Aditya]

Excellent news. Driving to Alibaug has been a nightmare since many years now, thanks to the poor road conditions and slow moving traffic. Sometimes, it takes more than 3 hours to cover the 100 km distance. This service will reduce the travel time and make the weekend getaway of Alibaug more accessible.

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by TusharK

According to a media report, the Ro-Ro service between Mumbai and Mandwa, in Alibaug is expected to start by the end of February 2020.

Apparently a nice service which Mumbaikars can relate to better. Although I would request to change the thread title by adding Ferry service to it. Also add a map depicting the places being catered to as for an outsider, it's difficult to understand.


For ralifans like me, it would mean a RO-RO service like Konkan Railway!

Image Source

Originally Posted by Aditya

Sometimes, it takes more than 3 hours to cover the 100 km distance.

3 hours for 100kms is quite decent if you ask me comparing from this part of country.

[libranof1987]

Terrific news indeed. This will make reaching Alibag easy for those from Mumbai. Those from Pune, though, will continue to suffer until Tamhini is fully repaired (concretization in progress). The misery of traveling within Konkan may indefinitely continue.

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

Also add a map depicting the places being catered to as for an outsider

This will connect Mumbai and one the northern most areas in Konkan by ferry. As Aditya said, a road journey of three hours will be an hour by sea. The Konkan region is a favorite destination for two main reasons: a) the Alphonso mango , b) sea shore that is fairly less commercialized than Goa.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

Also add a map depicting the places being catered

Here you go! This shows the road route from Gateway of India to Mandwa. For the RO-RO Ferry just join the 2 dots and make the time 50mins! Realistically it would be at least 1 hour 15 minutes min considering reaching the ferry wharf and lining up, etc.

PS: Used Gateway of India on the map, but it will actually start from Ferry Wharf which is nearby.

[bordeaux]

Also, if you are driving off to Goa from South Bombay, you are better off taking this one and then jumping off on to the NH-66 later. Although I am sure nobody really takes NH-66 for Bombay - Goa!

[silverado]

Originally Posted by bordeaux

Also, if you are driving off to Goa from South Bombay, you are better off taking this one and then jumping off on to the NH-66 later. Although I am sure nobody really takes NH-66 for Bombay - Goa!

Yes for sure no ones takes entire Nh-66 to reach Goa , Eway and beyond is faster and safer. But this ferry is not going to help you reach goa faster in any case, since once in Mandhwa you have 30 odd kms to reach vadhkal naka, and more if you are touching Nh66 at later points.

The real advantage is reaching Alibag, Kashid etc faster.
Other places can still be reached faster using Eway - Khalapur - Imax/Pali - Nh66.

[GTO]

For leisure travellers, this will be a boon...and quite a unique experience too, I might add. One reason I haven't visited Alibaug in the recent past is the terrible road condition. It's just no fun to drive there. This will change that.

If the service becomes popular with (rich) holiday travellers, it might also lead to a bump up in property prices there .

[ninjatalli]

Guys,
Is there any actual ground level setup that is actually in motion or visible at Alibaug/Mumbai side? Last year we had similar news posts that gave a vague May+ time period.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/comme...rt-2019-a.html (Mumbai to Alibaug Ro-Ro service to start in 2019)

Also, I kinda agree with what @moralfibre had mentioned on that thread. Although a good way to proceed, the trans harbour link would be the real deal; although both should complement each other for sure!

Originally Posted by moralfibre

While this is a good move, wait times for Ferry boats are high and no longer sustainable for the number of people Bombay carries. Especially those that travel out every weekend to take a breath. The toll traffic at Vashi bridge is what will end up at the ferry terminal should this RoRo service offer any hope to cut down time.

The long term and scalable solution is commissioning of MTHL - Mumbai Trans harbour link that will run between Sewri and Uran / JNPT / New Bombay.
And the construction of the link has already commenced:

What's the current status of the MTHL - Mumbai trans-harbour link?