Stakeholders need to nudge Government on Port development - Dissanayake
 

BY ANJANA Samarasinghe

SHIPPERS, exporters and importers need to push the government and administration to accelerate the development of the Colombo Port, Chairman/CEO of Aitken Spence Shipping Ltd Dr. Parakrama Dissanayake said.

Capacity of the Colombo Port should be expanded to meet the demand. Existing capacity could cater till 2007 for the ever increasing demand. In year 2008 demand will exceed more than the capacity.

It is vital to expand the capacity to be more competitive and efficient among other ports in South Asia, Dissanayake said at a Seminar on international trade organised by Hatton National Bank last Wednesday.

To reach the objective of expanding the Colombo Port capacity by 2008, development projects should commence by now and it may cost US$ 1.6 billion, Dissanayake said.

If Colombo Port loses its efficiency it will affect exports and imports. Exporters will be non-competitive and importers will have to pay high charges for their shipments. The apparel sector will be badly affected due to its high sensitivity on trans shipments, he said.

The global trend is towards the bigger ships which can accommodate more than 8000 TEUs. These ships require mega hub-ports with latest facilities.

Also global shipping lines expect multi-port service delivery and Sri Lanka Ports Authority need multi- port operators.

This should be implemented through a private public partnership, he said.