Chennai Port Handles Record 3,600 Cruise Passengers
The summer program includes twenty-one voyages through August, with itineraries calling at Hambantota in Sri Lanka and the Indian ports of Visakhapatnam and Puducherry.
Chennai Port Authority handled a record 3,600 cruise passengers on June 20, 2026, as Cordelia Cruises’ MV Empress opened a three-month Chennai season. The call produced the largest cruise turnaround recorded at the port, with about 1,800 passengers disembarking and a similar number boarding at West Quay, the authority said.
The opening sailing gave Chennai’s refurbished West Quay IV international cruise terminal its first major homeport workload. The ship is scheduled to operate 21 voyages from Chennai between June and August.
Homeport turnaround opens Cordelia’s summer program
The June 20 call combined arrival and departure flows in one port day. Chennai Port Authority and Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation organized a berth-side reception for guests, including tilak ceremonies, garland presentations and classical Indian music.
The three-month program includes calls at Hambantota in Sri Lanka and the Indian ports of Visakhapatnam and Puducherry. The arriving passengers came from Kochi.
Cordelia’s brand was inaugurated in 2021 after Waterways Leisure Tourism Pvt. Ltd. acquired the former Empress of the Seas from Royal Caribbean Group in late 2020.
No named statement from a Chennai Port Authority official or Cordelia Cruises executive accompanied the passenger figures.
West Quay IV upgrade expands processing capacity
The refurbished terminal covers 4,103 square meters and is designed to process up to 800 passengers per hour. It includes customs and immigration facilities, baggage-screening systems and dedicated embarkation and disembarkation zones.
The modernization increased terminal capacity to 1,800 passengers at a time from 1,000 and expanded immigration counters to 50 from 10 in the 2018 version. The ₹29.8-crore project, completed in June 2026 under the Cruise Bharat Mission, expanded the terminal’s southern side after the port’s earlier northern-side upgrade.
Other passenger-facing additions include expanded elevators and escalators, larger queuing and seating areas, full Wi-Fi coverage, two duty-free shops and a VIP lounge with accessibility facilities. The port also lists 24-hour navigational facilities for cruise ships drawing up to 12 meters.
Plans for the terminal’s next phase include food and beverage outlets on the mezzanine level.
