Hambantota Port to Handle car carriers & Break Bulk Cargo at 30pct Discount on all Items except Pilot Fees & Tug Charges

23rd July 2011, www.dailynews.lk, By Ravi Ladduwahetty

The Hambantota Port will now handle vessels carrying motor cars due to the berthing delays in the Colombo Port.

“The Hambantota Port is now capable of handling ships and at our last meeting with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority it was decided that if possible to divert the car carriers to Hambantota Port as they are subject to berthing delays at Colombo, Ceylon Association of Ships’ Agents Nimal Ranchigoda told the 45th CASA Annual General Meeting at the Hilton Colombo on Wednesday.”

“It was agreed that CASA members who handle car carriers discuss this aspect with their Principals, the Ceylon Motor Traders’ Association and if consensus is reached, then to go proceed with the berthing of car carriers at Hambantota,” he said.

He also said the SLPA Chairman has advised CASA that all geared vessels handling bags and break bulk bargo could be handled at Hambantota. He also confirmed that the current SLPA tariff will be applicable with a 30% discount on all items except the Professional Pilot Fees and the Tug Charges. Commenting on the Colombo Port, he said the port has experienced a total growth of 4% to date in 2011 when compared to 2010.

The CASA Chief also noted that shipping lines did recover financially in the second half of 2010 from the very serious financial and economic crisis they did encounter during the last quarter 2008, 2009 and the first quarter of 2010.

But however all shipping lines did end 2010 making profits. The start of 2011 due to a decline in world trade volumes and low freight rates made all shipping lines incur losses in the first quarter 2011 but they were nothing when compared to the losses suffered in the first quarter 2010.

He said that he referred about newspaper reports in his address last year saying that the shippers in the Asian Region have raised objections to some so called anti-competitive charges levied by shipping lines.

Subsequently in November 2010, President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as the Finance Minister made special reference in his budget proposals to Sri Lanka’s export industry which is said to be hampered by anti competitive practices of shipping lines and as a result that Sri Lankan exporters were subject to various charges imposed by the shipping lines.

He also stated that these charges resulted in a serious drain of foreign exchange and tax evasions.

The CASA executive committed having very carefully studied the position conveyed by the budget proposal have officially conveyed CASA response to the relevant authorities.

The CASA position is that there was no drain of any foreign exchange nor any tax evasions whatsoever. The charges levied by shipping lines in respect of imports are universally applied in all countries these shipping lines serve.

“While some charges are a cost recovery and others are applied as a deterrent, to ensure the trade comply with the documentation and other requirements of shipping lines therefore such charges are not peculiar to Sri Lanka,” he said.

Related Info :

• Sri Lanka to Open Bunker Terminal at Hambantota Port. $130mn Facility Offers Capacity of 82,000 Metric Tonnes

• Sri Lanka Opens Bids for Industries by 25 Parties at Hambantota Magampura Port Next Week

• Sri Lanka's Hambantota Harbour 1st Phase Completes with Filling of Water by President Mahinda Rajapakse

Export Sector to Benefit by Reduction in Freight Charges in Certain Parts of the World. Container Quality a Concern

12th April 2011, www.dailynews.lk, By Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

The shipping industry is looking forward to take advantage of the reduction in freight charges in certain parts of the world.

The freight charges have come down for Europe, USA and Far East including China. “This is a welcome reduction for exporters.

They need to work towards taking advantage of this situation,” Sri Lanka Shippers Council Chairman Gihan Kuruppu told Daily News Business.

“The country’s export sector needs to have strategies to exploit this reduction where an increase in the volume of exports will bring in more foreign exchange. The quick response from the sector could derive benefits,” he said.

Exporters require quality containers to facilitate the export process as at present there is a dearth in related equipment.

The current state of the containers is in a bad shape and also they are not sufficient to accommodate the demand. There is a shortage in containers globally and this has affected the country,” Kuruppu said.

Exports in tea, fibre and apparel have shown an increase.

UK Logistics Giant Goldstar Transport Sets up a Joint Venture in Sri Lanka. Transport & Logistics Contribute 10pct to Sri Lanka’s Economy

20th March 2011, www.island.lk

UK based logistics giant Goldstar Transport is bullish on Sri Lanka believing the post-conflict economic boom provided plenty of opportunities and the island has the potential to become a logistical hub in the region.

"The transport and logistics sector contributes 10 percent to Sri Lanka’s economy and accounts for 12 to 14 percent of employee participation out of the total workforce. With the post war economic boom in Sri Lanka an expansion in transportation will boost economic activity and create more job opportunities and additional value to the country, Goldstar Transport Ltd said in a joint statement announcing a joint venture with Global Transportation & Logistics (Pvt) Ltd to form Goldstar Transport Lanka (Pvt) Ltd at Global Park in Seeduwa recently.

Goldstar Transport Lanka is Head Quartered in Sri Lanka at No. 182, Negombo Road, Liyanagemulla, Seeduwa and is headed by Ravi Karuanayake MP as its Chairman and Simon Day as the Managing Director. They both have a vision of making Goldstar Transport Lanka, Sri Lanka’s leading transport operator and the logical choice for customers whether they are a freight forwarder or a manufacturer that needs help in transportation in Sri Lanka.

The Chairman of Goldstar Transport Lanka, Ravi Karuanayake, having started his career in the freight forwarding industry 22 years ago, also ventured into logistics 11 years ago. This lead to the opening of the global park, which is a Sri Lanka-based Logistics Centre and ‘Hub’ fully bonded with ‘State of the Art’ finishing facilities to the Apparel Industry. It is today a major warehouse in the region, providing customers the necessary quality standards that are described as being par excellence by their worldwide clientele that includes at present many leading global brands.

Karunanayake, who is also a United National Party MP, said that Sri Lanka was well placed in both the shipping and aviation routes and this provides a tremendous opportunity to the transportation industry.

"Today we need to have wider perspectives and use smarter initiatives to put Sri Lanka back on the world map .With the vast potential from aviation to navigation and from cargo transportation to logistics, we must aim to make Sri Lanka a giant hub and attract new business to become a global hub in logistics services," the opposition MP said.

Director Matthew Ashworth said he was extremely excited with this new venture and strongly believed that Goldstar Transport Lanka will make a big impact in the transport industry in Sri Lanka.

"Goldstar Transport Ltd was formed in 1998 by a management team that had a proven track record in large volume, multi-customer container transport. They currently have an annual turnover in excess of £60 million and regularly handles over 900 movements per day for a varied customer base from major shipping lines to smaller niche market operators specializing in refrigerated soft fruits, footwear and class one fireworks. Goldstar Transport’s new Traffic System, offers direct customer job input, online tracking of delivery’s and real time updates of delivery progress..Goldstar Transport has large volumes ,operating for all the major freight forwarding companies in the world." Ashworth said.

The company said its Sri Lankan operation has a quality fleet of Mercedes Benz prime movers not previously seen in Sri Lanka. The company has superior systems and technology such as IT systems that enable electronic data transfer, online real-time tracking of jobs and instant online POD facility providing customers accountability and attention to detail. With their biggest strength being their professional and dedicated staff, the company is confident by combing the strength and strategies of both organizations, they can become one that is on the forefront of the transportation industry in Sri Lanka, the joint statement said.

Maersk Launches Icon, a Dedicated Service Directly Linking Northern Europe with Sri Lanka & India

20th March 2011, www.island.lk

In response to growing export demand in the region, global shipping giant Mearsk said it launched a dedicated service, called ‘Icon’, directly linking Sri Lanka, North and East India with northern Europe.

The first ‘Icon’ vessel M.V. Maersk Miami V 1104 berthed on March 19 at the SAGT terminal in Colombo.

Picture shows the vessel’s captain and Maersk Line’s Colombo staff members on board the vessel celebrating the commencement of this new service.













Related Info :

• Colombo Port Containers Handling Grows by 11.78pct Year-on-Year. SLPA Handles a Record 205,539 TEU in January 2011

• Sri Lanka New Colombo South Port Terminal Eyes Indian Cargo for 2.4mn TEU Capacity

1st Terminal of Colombo South Harbour with China Merchant Holding to Go Ahead. Adds 2.4mn TEU Capacity to Sri Lankan Port

08th August 2010, www.nation.lk

The last remaining hurdle standing in the way of clinching the 35-year Build Operate Transfer (BOT) deal to construct the 2.4 million TEU capacity first terminal of the new Colombo South Harbour, was more or less ironed out on Thursday, when Attorney General (AG) Mohan Pieris proposed a compromise solution to the lead bidder’s request for a Government guarantee to get the loan capital from banks.

At Thursday’s meeting, a senior representative of the lead bidder, China Merchant Holding (CMH) had been present with their lawyer.

Shipping sources said the terminal, originally estimated to cost US$ 450 million, would be funded by 30% equity and 70% loan, and the consortium had wanted a guarantee from the Government to facilitate the loan component. Since such a guarantee was not in the Tender documents, and no such guarantee was given to the other privately managed terminal in the Colombo Port, the South Asia Gateway Terminal, which too is on BOT basis, the Government is now not in a position to change the terms of theoriginal Tender documents.

The AG has however, proposed some other method to comfort the banks into funding the terminal.

Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Chairman Dr Priyath Bandu Wickrema said last night that, with this final hurdle out of the way, they were confident of issuing the Letter of Intent to the CMH-led consortium in the coming days, to get their act together here on the ground, and hoped to sign the BOT contract with the consortium within six months, for the work proper to begin.

Already, Korean contractor Hyundai, who has undertaken the construction of the 6,000-metre breakwater for the new harbour, funded by a US$ 300 million loan from the Asian Development Bank, has completed a 2,000-metre stretch for the building of the first terminal.

The consortium that bid for the first terminal of the South Harbour is led by CMH with a 55% stake, Aitken Spence 30% and SLPA 15%.

The Colombo Port being the hub port for the sub continent, is assured enough and more container traffic, with India’s annual container traffic alone now projected to grow to 21 million TEUs in five years, from 9.1 million TEUs registered in 2008.

Related Info:
Colombo South Harbour Development Project

New Indian Port No Threat to Sri Lanka

28th February 2010, www.nation.lk, By Santhush Fernando and Indika Sakalasooriya

Although there had been concerns raised by several quarters in the local shipping industry regarding a possible threat to the Colombo Port posed by the new Cochin International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT) commencing operations by end 2010, local shipping industry experts and analysts opine otherwise.

The world’s third-largest container terminal operator- DP World announced recently that the first phase of the LKR 75bn Vallarpadam terminal project will be completed by June and is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2010.

With the need to use international trans-shipment ports diminishing, some shipping industrialists fear that trade from India (which makes up nearly 75 percent of Colombo’s volumes) would drop drastically resulting in the Colombo Port losing its main revenue source.

However, speaking to The Nation Economist, a spokesperson for the Ceylon Association of Ship’ Agents (CASA) said that the Cochin port did not pose a threat to Sri Lanka as India’s growth potential was tremendous.

“We don’t consider it as a threat. India keeps on growing and Indian ports cannot handle current volumes let alone future growth in volumes projected. When you take current productivity levels of Indian ports, they don’t pose a threat to us, not for at least the next ten to fifteen years,”

Asked whether reduced prices of the Cochin Port would have any bearing on Colombo’s prices, he said that prices depended solely on the operator’s choice and a port’s productivity.

“Prices are left for operators to decide. The price depends on the stability of a country and a port’s productivity. There are lightening strikes in ports all over India. However, there will be competition. Even if lines pull out from Sri Lanka they will come back. Furthermore, with the Hambantota Port coming into operation, Sri Lanka can widen the scope of its shipping sector to include bulk and bunkering operations.

He added that the Chairman of India’s Port Authority (SLPA), who recently visited Sri Lanka, too had confirmed that the new port would not pose a threat as India’s volume projections showed immense potential which its domestic ports were unable to handle.
Another top official from the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) also opined that given the geopolitical situation in Kerala where Cochin is located, there won’t be any substantial impact to the terminal operations in Sri Lanka.

A source at South Asian Gateway Terminal, Sri Lanka’s only privately owned terminal operator, said that they too are confident that ICTT is unlikely to pose any threat as India’s containerised trade volumes are increasing dramatically, evidently beyond their capacity.

However, an analyst, who also preferred anonymity, said that around 75 percent of the cargo handled by these two companies are transhipments from India.
“With the ICTT coming into operation there can be an impact in the short term. But with business activities in India growing at such a pace, even the ICTT may not be able to meet up the capacity,” she added.

Official statistics showed that container throughput at India’s 11 major ports grew 19.03 percent year-on-year for the fiscal year 2008. The 11 major ports - Mumbai, Kolkata, Paradip, Vizag, Ennore, Chennai, Tuticorin, Kochi, Mangalore, Mormugao and Kandla handled 6.60 million TEUs in the 12 months up to March 2008. If the current growth rate of 19% is kept to India’s container throughput it is estimated to hit some 21 million TEUs per year by 2016, an authoritative international website said (PortWorld.com)

According to another report, ‘container cargo represents only about 30% by value of India’s external trade-pale when compared with the global containerised cargo average of 70-75%.’

New Korean-Built 4255 TEU Container Vessel Named 'Zim Colombo'

21st December 2009, www.dailymirror.lk

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services (ZISS) has christened its new Korean-built 4255 TEU Container Vessel Zim Colombo and has deployed it into their East Mediterranean Express (EMX) Service, which touches Colombo on its west-bound and east-bound voyages.

ZISS offers 60 services to ports of call throughout Europe, the United States and Canada, Central and South America, Africa and Asia and it has established a particularly strong presence on routes between the Far East and the Caribbean, Mediterranean and China.

In addition, to meet the changing needs of a dynamic market, ZISS continuously expands and diversifies their geographic coverage and is currently strengthening their presence in developing regions, with a focus on the Far East, Former Soviet Union regions, South America and Africa.

According to their plans, two major ZISS services - ZIM Container Service (ZCS) and EMX - have already embarked on Super-Slow Steaming, a measure that would enable substantial fuel savings and significantly reduced CO2 and NOx emissions.

In pursuance of this endeavour, ZISS added a 4255 TEU vessel to each service, thus maintaining similar levels of service in terms of frequency and with only minor changes in transit times. Accordingly, ZCS deploys 16 vessels while EMX deploys 11 vessels in their operations.

Slow steaming is in line with ZISS's streamlining and savings efforts. ZISS is one of the first shipping companies whose owned fleet confirms to Environmental Management (ISO 14001) standards. The Super-Slow Steaming will reduce the CO2 and NOx emission drastically in these two lines and will support ZISS's persistent commitment to sustainability and environmental awareness.

A ceremony was held on board the vessel MV Zim Colombo, in celebration of her maiden voyage at the JCT of Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), on her inaugural west-bound voyage on 17 December 2009.

To mark the significance of this move to the SLPA, plaques were exchanged between the Managing Director of SLPA Capt. Nihal Keppetipola and the Master of the Vessel Capt. Sergej Decenkov and the officials of Star Lanka Shipping, the local shipping agents.

Commenting on this new addition, SLPA Managing Director Capt. Nihal Keppetipola said: "We have attracted several new lines and services in recent months and this trend is a clear approbation by the liner community of the current customer-friendly marketing orientation and pragmatic policies of SLPA. This apart, our country has come to the threshold of an economic renaissance with peace dividend being invested on huge maritime-related infrastructure development projects."

"The christening of ZISS's new vessel as Zim Colombo is of great significance to Sri Lanka which fills us with pride, especially at a time when the green shoots of recovery from the global economic meltdown are appearing. This would make the Port of Colombo echo throughout the world, which is now well accepted as the regional hub port. I take this opportunity to wish ZISS and their local agent Star Lanka Shipping every success," he further said.

Image : Plaques are exchanged between the Managing Director of SLPA Capt. Nihal Keppetipola (third from right) and the Master of the Vessel Capt. Sergej Decenkov (fourth from right) while N. Ranchigoda - Director Star Lanka Shipping (fourth from left), Dillan Lawrence - Manager Star Lanka (first from right), Chief Operations Manager of SLPA G.A.Thalagala (second from right), Harbour Master of SLPA Capt. Ravi Jayawickrama (second from left), Dy. Chief Operations Manager of SLPA Jayantha Perera (third from left) and Dy. Chief Manager (Marketing and BD) of SLPA Upul Jayathissa (first from left) look on

Maersk to Stop Direct Chennai-US Service. Colombo, Sri Lanka to Gain on Trans-shipments

10th December 2009, www.slasscom.lk

The world’s biggest container shipping firm, Maersk Line, will stop a direct service from Chennai to the US east coast from 5 February and run it from Colombo instead, dealing a blow to the Union government-owned Chennai port’s ambition to become a hub. At least two Chennai-based shipbrokers familiar with the development confirmed Maersk’s plan, declining to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the media. Maersk is the container shipping unit of Danish shipping and oil conglomerate AP Moller-Maersk Group A/S.

This move will also increase costs and mean delays for shipments from India, eroding the competitiveness of exports, said S.R.L. Narasimhan, secretary of the Western India Shippers Association.

The Maersk service, introduced in 2007 to tap the boom in container shipments to and from the US, is being stopped as traffic between the countries has dropped as the effects of the global slump have made the service unviable, shipping executives in Chennai said.

Clients in south India will now have to ship cargo to the Sri Lankan port on smaller feeder vessels, a process known as trans-shipment, which will add three-four days to the process.

Other trans-shipment destinations from India are Singapore, Port Klang in Malaysia, Dubai or Salalah in Oman.

India spends at least Rs1,000 crore a year on trans-shipment alone, as big ships are not able to call at the country’s ports due to depth restrictions, according to the Union shipping ministry.

From Jawaharlal Nehru Port, India’s busiest container port located in Mumbai, there are three separate weekly direct services to the US. One is run by Maersk, the second by a consortium comprising Hapag-Lloyd AG, CMA CGM SA, APL Ltd and NYK Line and, the third by a consortium of UASC Ltd, Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd, K Line and Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp.

According to the terms of a contract signed with the Union government-owned Chennai port in 2001 for operating the terminal, DP World has to ensure that big main line vessels call at the port to haul cargo directly to destinations. This clause stipulated that at least 30% of the total container cargo handled at the terminal had to be moved in this way as part of efforts to make Chennai a container cargo hub on the east coast.
Maersk Line confirmed it was making changes to the existing MECL2 service between Chennai and North America from 5 February.

“We will offer multiple feeder sailings from Chennai to Colombo for onward connection to the MECL2, thereby providing more frequent sailing options to our customers,” said Rajiv Arvind, an executive looking after corporate communications at Maersk Line India.