India's TCI Seaways Takes Delivery of Seventh Vessel for East Coast Coastal Route

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 29, TCI Seaways, the coastal shipping division of India's Transport Corporation of India, took delivery of the 500TEU container ship TCI SETU at Taizhou Sanfu Ship Engineering in China, with the delivery ceremony held at Sanfu Shipyard's No. 1 berth. The vessel is the seventh ship in TCI Seaways' fleet, representing an investment of INR 178.82 crore, funded from internal accruals.

TCI SETU is a 500TEU cellular container ship, with key technical parameters as specified in the construction and sea trial documentation: length overall 116.00 m, length between perpendiculars 107.50 m, breadth moulded 20.00 m, depth moulded 11.00 m; design draught 7.00 m, scantling draught 7.50 m; deadweight approximately 7,300 tonnes, gross tonnage 7,002, net tonnage 2,627; main engine power 3,840 kW, service speed approximately 13.2 knots, maximum height above waterline 35 m. The vessel is classed by the Korean Register (KR), with IMO number 1102192, and flies the Panama flag.

Prior to delivery, the division operated 6 vessels with a combined deadweight of 78,120 tonnes, managing more than 8,500 sea containers. With the addition of TCI SETU, the fleet increases to 7 vessels, adding 500TEU of container capacity. The vessel is the first of two 500TEU series ships ordered by TCI Seaways at Sanfu Ship Engineering in China, with the second still under construction.

TCI SETU will be deployed on India's East Coast coastal route. TCI Seaways currently has 4 vessels on the East Coast, serving routes including Chennai–Andaman Islands, Chennai–Myanmar, and Visakhapatnam–Andaman Islands; it has 2 additional vessels on the West Coast, operating routes from Kandla to Cochin, Tuticorin, and Mangalore. The combination of TCI SETU's 500TEU capacity and approximately 7,300 tonnes deadweight corresponds to the mixed container and breakbulk cargo requirements of coastal feeder transport.