Vijaydurg Port

Vijaydurg Port

Vijaydurg Port is a natural harbour on the west coast of the district of Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, India. The port is situated midway between Malvan and Ratnagiri at the mouth of the Vijaydurg creek in Devgad taluka. Its coastal jurisdiction extends 10 kms north up to the Jaitapur lighthouse. Goods weighing about 200 tons are generally loaded or unloaded at the port daily. The cargo brought by sea is transported by creek up to Kharepatan which is 26 miles up from Vijayadurg.

Administration

The controlling authority of this port is "Assistant Range Officer".

Commodities

The chief commodities imported in this port are food-stuffs, pulses, salt, oil-cakes, sugar, cement and dry fish. The chief commodities exported from this port are; mangoes, jungle-wood, hemp, bamboos and cocunuts.

Food and related products as well as general merchandise are imported from Mumbai, salt from Mora and Karanja, tiles from Mangalore and salted fish from Malvan and Karwar. Mangoes, wood and salted fish are sent to Mumbai.

Trade

The average turn-over of import and export at the port during 1953-58 was about 25,000 tons and about 25,000 passengers travel through the port every year. An old anchor (length 13m, breadth 8m and road circumference 2m), belonging to the Maratha Navy was found lying in water near the port for over hundred years and still in good condition. It was moved to the Maritime Museum, Mumbai, from the port at the request of Captain J. R. Davis, Nautical Adviser to the Government of India, on 5th February 1956.

Ferries

The region surrounding Vijaydurg Port has a good network of rivers and rivulets. There are lots of interruptions to road traffic due to absence of bridges over the numerous rivers, rivulets and creeks. Many ferries ply only after monsoon as the swelling waters begin to recede as the month of October advances. The ferries ply between Vijaydurg and Kharepatan which is 40 kms towards the eastern side of Waghotan River.

Almost all the ferries are country crafts manned by two or three ferrymen. Small boats called Hodis ply across rivers and rivulets. The sailing vessels plying across creeks are called machwas. A hodi can accommodate four persons, while a machwa can carry up to fifty persons.

The statistics regarding the number of passengers embarked and disembarked at this port for six years (1951 to 1957) are given in the table below:

Year	1951-52	1952-53	1953-54	1954-55	1955-56	1956-57
Embarking	22,900	25,373	23,258	27,538	20,728	28,505
Disembarking	23,731	24,693	23,532	25,428	25,051	27,507

Konkan Steamer Service

File:Konkan Sevak.jpeg

Konkan Sevak

File:Konkan Shakti.jpeg

Konkan Shakti

Until 1983, Vijaydurg was a port of call for the Konkan Steamer service, which ran two ships: Konkan Sevak and Konkan Shakti, which were later sent to supply the IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Forces) in Sri Lanka in the late eighties on the behest of late Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi. In the past, a few operators like Damania did launch catamaran services, but they never really took off. The smaller catamarans that replaced them in the mid-nineties were described as "soulless" by many a traveller. 'The sea route on board the catamarans could never be a pleasant experience for the passengers due to the heavy rolling and pitching effects of the sea throughout the entire journey,' states the proposal passed by the state government.

Relaunch of Mumbai-Goa Liner

Twenty-two years after its last voyage the Mumbai-Goa steamer service will set sail once again, with Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and his Maharashtra counterpart Prithviraj Chauhan keen on relaunching the service.

A proposal to restart the service was made by the Goa Government in the last week of May, and was promptly seconded by the Maharashtra Government. "It has been cleared and the service will be launched in the next three months," Captain of Ports, Goa, James Braganza. In a presentation on the service to the state government, Braganza said, "The service will be purely an alternative mode of transport between Mumbai and Goa, minus any frills, but comfortable." As earlier, the service is expected to operate between Ferry Wharf (Bhaucha Dhakka) in Mazgaon and Panaji port. En route it will halt at Raigad, Ratnagiri, Jaigad, Vijaydurg, Malvan and Vengurla, where smaller boats will ferry passengers to the shore. There is much scope for a daily steamer services on the route, as trains invariably run full and buses are not preferred by many.

Gallery

• 
  Vijaydurg Jetty
• 
  Machwa
• 
  Hodi

See also

• Vijaydurg City
• Vijaydurg Fort
• Vijaydurg Beach
• Rameshwar Wadi
• Shri Dev Rameshwar Temple
• Rameshwar Port