The Konkan shipping service, which accounts for nearly two thirds of the entire coastal passenger traffic in India, is in a bad way again.

Last month saw the exit from the scene of Bombay Steam Navigation Company (BSN) which, established in 1845, was perhaps the first scheduled passenger shipping service in the country. The closure of BSN leaves only Chowgule Steamship in the field. So once again, after a respite of just two years, a single company will have a monopoly of Konkan coastal shipping. It was only two years ago that the Chowgules had started passenger services along the coast thus ending the over a hundred year old monopoly of BSN.