A ferry service between India and Myanmar to facilitate cargo and passenger movement between the two countries will begin next month, an Indian minister said.
The proposed cargo ferry service will connect the two countries through India’s port city Chennai and Myanmar’s commercial hub Yangon.
It will open a sea route and strengthen economic ties for land-based trade worth about billions of dollars, India’s Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari told Indian media.
State-run Shipping Corporation of India is likely to deploy a 1,200 TEU (twenty feet equivalent unit) vessel, which will connect the ports of Colombo, Chennai, Krishnapatnam and Yangon.
India’s Ministry of Shipping has also reportedly formalised a coastal shipping arrangement in 2014, which would boost the coastal movement of vessels between the two countries.