International luxury Cruise ship calls VOC Port, Tuticorin

International luxury Cruise ship ‘MS Amera’ made her first call to VOC Port, Tuticorin, on January 11^th carrying 698 passengers and 386 crew members on-board.

The guests onboard ‘MS Amera’ were traditionally welcomed with ‘NathaswaraMangala 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, Chairman of VOC Port Authority, Tuticorin Mr. T.K. Ramachandran, 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, 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 Churchand other places of interest at Tuticorin. Local Guides were also arranged through Ministry of Tourism.

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. andTuticorin on 11.01.2023. The vessel left VOC Port on the very same day 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.

Mr 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. Prabakar, Traffic Manager, Capt. Praveen Kumar Singh, Deputy Conservator,  Mr. K. Ravikumar, Chief Engineer, Mr. V.SureshBabu, Chief Mechanical Engineer, Mr. Giriraj Singh Rathod, Secretary were present on the occasion.