Waterways transport in Kerala

WCC is the arterial inland waterway of the State, which is being developed to the standard of a National Waterway. This is a ₹2,300-crore rupees project that is intended to make the entire 633 km long water ways along Kerala coast from Kovalam (Thiruvananthapuram district) to Bekal (Kasaragod district) fully navigable and connect the three major international airports of Kerala such as Trivandrum International Airport, Cochin International Airport and Kannur International Airport through waterways by May 2020. The project was handled by Kerala Waterways and Infrastructures Ltd., the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up on Oct 2017 for the timely development of inland waterways. The Government of Kerala and CIAL have stakes in it. The SPV is entrusted with duties such as cross structure construction, dredging, widening and cleaning the waterways. Their first project was rejuvenation of the 18 km Akkulam - Kovalam stretch of Parvathi Puthannaar in Trivandrum awarded to them in May 2018.[8] The National Transportation Planning and Research Centre, in its techno-economic feasibility study, said 16.6 per cent of the total goods traffic by road could be diverted to the inland water transport system once WCC is completed.[9] The various stretches of WCC from South to North of Kerala are as follows,

• Kovalam - Aakkulam - Parvathi Puthannaar (Trivandrum) portion
• TS Canal (Vallakkadavu - Kadinamkulam lake - Anchuthengu lake - Varkala Tunnel - Edava Nadayara Kaayal - Paravur Kayal - Kollam Canal - National Waterway 3 stretches till Ponnani excluding Ponnani -Shoranur stretch)
• National Waterway 3 - Kollam to Kozhikode 375 km.[7]
• Canoli Canal
• Vatakara - Mahé Canal - 17.4 km stretch passing through Thiruvallur, Maniyoor, Villiyapilly, Purameri, and Ayancherry in the Kuttiyadi constituency; Edacherry in the Nadapuram constituency; and Eramala and Azhiyoor in the Vadakara constituency.[9] This is also part of Vision Vadakara 2025.[10][11][12]
• Mahé - Valapattanam Canal - 51 km (of which 26 km runs through the existing water bodies and the rest 25 km needs an artificial cut).- this was a missing link in the backwater system running parallel Northern Kerala Coast and a hence, major obstacle to the inland navigation potential of the region. This stretch needs man made canals on three stretches so as to link Mahé River system with Valapattanam River system through Anjarakkandy river, Kuyyalipuzha and Dharmadom river. The upstream stretch of Anjarakkandy river from the canal till Mattanur will be made navigable to connect WCC with Kannur International Airport. The alignment of this canal is as follows,[13]
  • Begins as an artificial cut beginning at Mahé River near Peringathur and ending at Kuyyalipuzha near Ponniam through Palathayi, Elankode, Kannamvally and Mokery for a distance of 9.2 km.
  • Then it continues down stream through Kuyyalipuzha till near Thalassery suburbs.
  • From Kuyyalipuzha a man-made channel of 0.85 km is made for canal to enter into Dharmadom river which is a distributary of Anjarakkandy river.
  • In Anjarakkandy river system the canal travels till end of Dharmadam Island and then another man-made artificial cut begins near Mamakunnu which travels 15 km long through Kadachira, Chala, Varam and Chelora and meet Valapattanam River.
  • Thereafter the canal goes downstream up till Valapattanam town through the river.[14][15]
• Valapattanam- Neeleeswaram waterway - 50 km
  • This is longest natural waterway in Malabar region.
  • It travels from Valapattanam to Pazhayangadi for a distance of 13 km by taking down stream of Valapattanam River till Azhikkal estuary and then upstream on Kuppam River till Pazhayangadi.
  • At Pazhayangadi it enters into Sulthan Thodu or Sulthan Canal a 4 km man made canal till Madayi. Sulthan Canal was completed in 1766 during the Mysorean invasion of Malabar by Sultanate of Mysore.[16]
  • From Madayi the waterway enters into Perumba River system and exit into Valiyaparamba-Kavvayi Backwaters at Kavvayi.
  • Then it pass through Ayitti (Thrikaripur), Padanna of Kannur - Kasaragod district.
• Neeleeswaram - Bekal, Kasaragod waterway - 24 km (completing the 140 km long Payyoli - Bekal reach of WCC).

Alappuzha is called the Venice of the East. No other town in Kerala must have relied on waterways and canals as much as Alappuzha does. The water way system in Alappuzha developed because of architect of the city Raja Kesavadas in 18th century. The major canals and waterways in Alappuzha town and adjoining areas are,

• AS Canal
• Vada canal
• Link Canal
• Commercial Canal
• Kottaram Thodu
• Kappirithode

Water transportation also exists as numerous small ferry (kadathu in local dialect) at various parts of the state mainly on rivers. This facilitate to cross from one shore to other where bridges are absent. It is cost effective and can be established even at higher reaches of river which are normally not having formal navigation facilities.

There are also big ferries that facilitate even vehicles to cross the channel. Some important ones in state are,

• Azhikode - Munambam Jangar Ferry
• Fort Kochi - Vypin RoRo Jangar Ferry
• Kannankadu Ferry, Munroe Island.
• Perumon Jangar, Munroe Island.
• Manjapetty Ferry across Periyar (river).
• Chaliyam - Beypore ferry
• Azhikkal - Matool ferry.

There are also boat services in many reservoirs in Kerala. These boat services are primarily operated for tourism purposes. There are also few places such as Amboori, Neyyar Dam where there is country boat ferry services through reservoir to connect tribal hamlets. Major reservoir boating facilities are,

• Thenmala Dam
• Thekkady
• Kakkayam Dam
• Mattupetty Dam
• Idukki Dam
• Bhoothathankettu
• Sengulam Dam
• Malampuzha Dam
• Neyyar Dam
• Kallarkutti Dam
• Adavi Eco Tourism etc.

The SWTD - State Water Transport Department transports about 150 lakhs of passengers per annum using wooden/steel and fibre Glass Passenger Boats. Approximately 40,000 people use their service every day. It operates vehicle carrier (Two-wheeler) boats in ferry services. The operating distance per day is 700 km approximately.

• The State Water Transport Department of Kerala (SWTD), has passenger boat services in following districts,
  • Kollam (Ashtamudi Lake)
  • Alappuzha (Kayamkulam Lake, Vembanad Lake)
  • Kottayam (Vembanad Lake)
  • Ernakulam (Vembanad lake, Champakara Canal and Udyogmandal Canal )
  • Kannur (Valapattanam River)
  • Kasaragod (Valiyaparamba backwaters)[17]
• They have water taxi service in Alappuzha.[18]
• There is also water ambulance services operated by SWTD.[19]

It is first of its kind in India. Intended to integrate with Kochi Metro and serve under Unified Metropolitan Transportation Authority of Kochi city.[20]

Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore runs barges through Champakkara Canal in Kochi to transport materials between Ambalamedu and Kochi Port.[21] There is also container movement between Kottayam Inland Port and International Container Transshipment Terminal, Kochi.[22]

Numerous Tourist Boats and Kettuvallam (Houseboats) of Kerala are found near Kollam, Alappuzha, Kumarakom, Kochi and Valiyaparamba in North Malabar. Alumkadavu near Karunagappalli is a major center of luxury house boat manufacturing in Kerala.[23] There are boat services done in many reservoirs in Kerala for tourists.[24]

Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation has a mini cruise ship named Nefereti which conduct tourist service from Kerala backwaters to open seas at Kochi.[25]