India's Cochin Shipyard has begun construction on two pax-cargo vessels for deployment in the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
The block erection of Ship 021 and Ship 022 was started this week at Cochin Port, Willingdon Island.
The 500-passenger and 150-tonne cargo vessels will be deployed for inter-island connectivity.
The shipyard has also been contracted to build two 1,200-passenger and 1,000-tonnes of cargo vessels as part of the Make-In-India initiative.
The vessels are expected to be delivered by Cochin Shipyard by March and July 2019.