According to UNI, efforts of a Dubai shipping company to start a ferry service from here to Cochin, which would offer cheap fares and huge baggage allowance, has been put off due to technical reasons. Marco Shipping Company was expected to start services from February this year, but later it deferred its plans to September and now it had been postponed yet again. Chairman of the company Mohammed Ahmed Al Suwaidi said it had received permission from the Kerala Government for the ferry service, and spent 2 million Dirham to build facilities at the Cochin port. The ferry service, which was to have a capacity of 700 passengers in different classes, including luxury, first and economic class also boasted of a cinema and duty-free shops.