Water transport in Mumbai

Water transport in Mumbai consists of ferries, hovercrafts and catamarans.

Proposals to start proper water services were initially mooted in the 1990s but were held up due to legal issues. Services are provided by both government agencies as well as private partners.

The Maharashtra Maritime Board granted permission to a private operator to begin regular ferry services from Mora jetty in Uran to Elephanta (Gharapuri) from 15 April 2017.

The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST), started a ferry operations between Manori and Marve Beach in 1981, but it was soon taken over by private providers.

Subsequently, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) was selected to undertake the work of setting up terminals at Nariman Point, Bandra, Juhu, Versova, and Marve Beach.

Hovercrafts used to ply between the Gateway of India in Mumbai and CBD Belapur and Vashi in Navi Mumbai between 1994 and 1999 but the services were subsequently stopped due to lack of sufficient water transport infrastructure. The services used British made hovercraft and were operated by as a joint venture between the government and Mahindra and Mahindra, an Indian conglomerate. The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) and Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) floated proposals to restart hovercraft services from CBD Belapur to reduce travel time from an hour and above to under half an hour. The CIDCO developed hoverport in CBD Belapur was taken over by the Indian Coast Guard as an ad hoc base for providing security to water transport services till its permanent base at Nerul adjacent to Training Ship Chanakya was set up.

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