Fact check: Video of a cruise ship from Greece is passed off as ferry service started by PM Modi

Hyderabad: Twitter user @RenukaJain6 posted a video of a cruise ship and claimed that it is the service between Bhavnagar to Bharuch in Gujarat started by PM Narendra Modi.

Tweet translated from Hindi reads: "Bhavnagar to Bharuch road has a distance of 350 kilometers, and by sea route, it is 32 kilometers. By this sea route, the Prime Minister has started a service by the ship. The capacity of this ship is 50 trucks, 60 buses, 200 cars, 350 motorcycles, 600 people, and time in just half an hour."

Archive of the post can be accessed here.

The same video shared widely on Facebook.

Archive of the post can be accessed here and here.

Fact check:

The claim that the video belongs to ferry service in Gujarat is FALSE.

The video cruise ship circulating on social media is from Greece and NOT related to the ferry service started by PM Narendra Modi in Gujarat.

A reverse image search of one of the keyframes of the video led to an article by Daily Mail, published on 11 Oct 2019. The article featured the same video and identified the ship as the 'MS Braemar cruise ship' owned by UK-based 'Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines'.

It further stated that "incredible footage showed the moment the largest ever cruise ship to pass through the Corinth Canal in Greece squeezed through the tiny gap."

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, a UK based company, uploaded the same video on its official Youtube channel.

While the video circulating on social media is unrelated to Gujarat, the claim made in the text of the claim is partially true. In 2017 PM Narendra Modi indeed inaugurated 'RO-RO ferry service' between Bhavnagar and Bharuch in Gujarat. According to The Times of India article published on 23 Oct 2017: "Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of his 'dream project' — the Rs 650 crore 'roll-on-roll-off' (ro-ro) ferry service between Ghogha in Bhavnagar and Dahej in Bharuch."

But the vehicle transportation capacity of the ferry mentioned in the social media claim is False. According to the official tweet by PM Modi on 21 Oct 2017, the capacity of the ferry is 70-80 trucks, 100 light motor vehicles, and 500 passengers.

Therefore, an unrelated video of a cruise ship from Greece shared as a ferry service inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi in Gujarat. The claim is FALSE.