Shipping web portal to facilitate data and logistics

Shirajiv Sirimane

WEB PORTAL: For the first time in Sri Lanka, a shipping portal has been launched for the benefit of the local shipping industry.

Director E Shipping and the mentor behind the website, Sasika Ranasinghe said that though the Sri Lankan shipping industry is over 150 years old the usage of IT is less than 10 percent.

" This is a weakness at present and could be a threat for the future of shipping. This is also something that needs rethinking and this was the main reason for me to develop this website," he said.

"We have identified through a comprehensive study that there is reluctance by the shipping community to rely on E commerce." He said that still traditional methods of communications such as informing of an arrival of cargo, through a postcard are being used by some companies. It is also found out that around 88 percent communicate through the telephone.

He said that this is time-consuming and also costs a lot of money. "If you are a member of this website, all cargo movements will be informed to the members through Short Message System (SMS) for which I have tied up with Mobitel," he said.

The web portal eshipping.lk is designed and maintained in order to facilitate data and logistics solutions on-line. "If an exporter wants to ship some items to any country we will give the person the list of available ports and rates of shipping lines," he said.

The website provides user friendly surfing techniques that would break traditional barriers which presently restrict the shipping community deriving benefits of E-commerce.

This website which is also recognised by the Export Development Board provides a " one stop " cost effective and informative service tool which will be customized to needs of many shipping related organisations.

The idea of creating this website came about when I was doing my MBA at the Moratuwa University and its focus is to contribute on developments of shipping in Sri Lanka which I feel is part of my national duty.