Sethu Samudram project neither saves time nor viable economically. These are the two aspects that need to be highlighted. So, there is absolutely no advantage to the ships and the shipping industry. So, what are we gaining by spending Rs 2,400 crore of tax payers' money? It is a white elephant in the making.

"The project will be a sick unit as the money invested can never be recovered. I don't think any container ship will use the canal," says George Gomez, Coordinator, Tamil Nadu Manual Workers' Union, Tuticorin, who has several decades of experience in the shipping industry

The saving in sailing time for that ship will also be substantially less than the 36 hours projected by the SSCP because the ship cannot be towed at its normal speed through the canal, and time will also be lost in embarkation/disembarkation of pilots and other inspection procedures. The saving in sailing time of just about a day will not justify the incurring of over 8 times the cost of the saved fuel.

A project like sscp, should either be a revenue earner for the government or serve some larger public purpose (like roads contribute to infrastructural development). As many others have stated, ships (especially from Africa and Europe) are unlikely to use the canal

The Colombo port currently handles 1.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of which 40 per cent is Indian transhipment cargo. It fears Sethusamudram project can wean away a substantial chunk of it.

Tuticorin can emerge as a transhipment hub for domestic container and attract additional international containers for transhipment.