Business Shipping

Ofer Ships Holdings Mahima calls Colombo Dockyard

MV. SCI Mahima (53,726 DWT) container carrier under the management of Ofer (Ships Holdings) Israel called at Colombo Dockyard PLC (CDY) recently for her intermediate survey and drydocking repairs. Ofer (Ships Holdings) is one of the biggest fleet owners in the global ship owning /managing arena.

During this landmark drydocking call the CDY was entrusted to carry out routine drydock related work. CDY approached the work professionally with the redelivery deadline in mind, after a collective all round effort from all production departments, specially the steel department, dockyard managed to complete the total work package on schedule.

The major jobs attended were steel renewal inside ballast tanks (over 75 tons), rudder related steel work in confined spaces and hatch cover repairs. This container vessel boasted of a massive propeller weighing over 45 tons, this was one of the heaviest propellers handled by CDY staff in the recent past.

The shaft seals were also renewed, while main engine air coolers were cleaned, all sea valves were over hauled among other routine repairs. The Ship Manager P.C. Luwishewa handled the project with the able support from all production department engineers and workers.

Steel department played a key role with majority of the work package coming under their purview, the steel engineers Thiwanka Seneviratne and Gandika Weligamage played a key role in this project. The repairs were completed within the quoted 22 days meeting the owners and the classification society’s full satisfaction.

The attending superintendent Shami Ilan and I. Lurie - Technical Manager represented the owners during this first call to CDY. The 1985 built and classed under the Lloyds register SCI Mahima sailed out of the CDY in “Ship Shape” to her next loading port on schedule.

Thus, successful completion of repairs to SCI Mahima adds world renowned Ofer (Ship Holdings) Israel to Colombo Dockyard PLC’s list of satisfied customers. The local agents Star Lanka Shipping handled the local husbanding work for the owners during this drydocking call.

Marine BizTV to cover maritime industry at ICS

The ICS SL Annual Award Ceremony will be held at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel under patronage of Minister Chamal Rajapaksa and Chairman of ICS Intl.

Kevin Shakesheff together with ICS Karu Jayasooriya and Rauf Hakeem as guests of honour on February 8.

This years annual award ceremony goes down in the history as one of the best events which is to be witnessed by the maritime community worldwide as Maritime BizTV, a Dubai based TV channel came forward to cover our maritime industry in Sri Lanka at the invitation of ICS SL and will telecast live worldwide.

CEO/MD Sohon Roy said: “If Sri Lanka is to take advantage of her strategic location and put against Dubai and Singapore, which I believe she is well capable of, it would make prudent sense for Marine BizTV to make a series of programmes and showcase the industry as a whole to the entire Maritime world.”

During their stay Marine BizTV personnel will carry out their Sri Lanka promotion programmes in consultation with ICS SL and all stakeholders will get adequate exposure for the services they offer in and out of Sri Lanka for the maritime industry.

This will be an unique opportunity for the industry leaders to get-together and work in close harmony with ICS to put up a great product to entice entire shipping community of all what could be done.

Chairman ICS SL Maxwell de Silva said that at a time when the country is fighting for a separatist war, decision taken by Maritme BizTV is laudable and we all should take this opportunity to market our country aggressively.

The visit of the new chairman ICS Intl Kevin Shakesheff is also an important milestone as ICS recognise the importance of Sri Lanka as their education hub for the entire area.

This year there will be 6 customer service awards for different trade routes with an overall winner who will also be selected based on customer survey currently carried out by Business Insights and Solutions.

‘Three Queens’ sail together for first and only time

Three of the world’s best-known ocean liners steamed out of New York harbour together late Sunday, sailing out of the same port for the first and only time in their history.

The Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth 2 and newly-launched Queen Victoria slipped past the Statue of Liberty together under the cover of darkness as fireworks burst overhead, offering maritime history fans a unique opportunity.

“This is the first time they’ve all met,” Carol Marlow, president of Cunard Line, which operates the three ships, told reporters in New York. “It’s not only special because it’s the first time we’ve had these three ships together, it’s special because it will never happen again,” she said. “This is a truly momentous occasion.”

The Queen Victoria, launched in December and on her maiden world cruise, and the Queen Mary 2, launched in 2004 and the largest ocean liner in the world, were both headed for the Caribbean.

The Queen Elizabeth 2, which was due to be retired in November to become a floating hotel in Dubai, was headed for South America at the beginning of her final world cruise. AFP

Ancient ship suppliers paid only a royalty:

Gold mind in shipping industry

“Ship Supplies” is the gold mind in shipping industry in the world. Ship owner’s and agent’s return on investment is very low compared to ship suppliers globally. When we compare the risk factor also it is very low for Ship Suppliers.

“Ship Chandling” is the Traditional name for this trade. Worldwide all ship suppliers are free of Duties / Taxes due to the peculiar nature of ship crews and passengers. It is one of the major reason to develop this trade independently, worldwide.

All supplies to the Ships are considered as exports since they earns in Foreign Exchange Globally. Therefore they are entitle for normal incentives provided by each government for exports development. It is an important part of International trade too.

It is a very old trade in Sri Lanka, started with the arrival of foreign ships to Sri Lanka, may be over 5000 years ago. Olden days ship suppliers have to pay small, royalty to the kings on their turnover.

Entire trade was handle by the private individuals and companies till 1964. When the Government wanted to start Ceylon Shipping Corporation in 1964 Minister P.B.G. Kalugalla , who started Ceylon Port Services Ltd as Government owned ship supplier for the first time in Sri Lankan history.

At the same time Minister organized the Ceylon Ship Supplier Association to have “Healthy Competition” among ship suppliers in Sri Lanka.

Later it became Sri Lanka Ship Suppliers Association. In 1989 SLSSA became full executive member in International Ship Suppliers Association based in London, U.K. The General Manager of Ceylon port Services Ltd was the ex- officio Secretary of SLSSA and Board Member of ISSA simultaneously.

This relationship was changed with the management change of Ceylon Port Services Ltd in 2003. Now the entire trade is in the hands of the private sector.

2007 there were 71 private corporate members in the trade including 8 foreign owned companies. The short supply by Local Ship Suppliers have created a path for foreign ship suppliers. This situation started when the Government lost it’s control over this trade through Ceylon Port Services Ltd.

It is not a healthy situation to the country. Specially under foreign security threats prevailing today in Sri Lanka. Government should re-consider taking back the management of Ceylon Port Services Ltd on national security aspects.

Even at present we are not supplying over 90% of opportunities available to Sri Lanka on ship supplies. Over 300 ships are passing Sri Lanka for 24 hours period on average as per Loyeds records.

Only 10 -12 ships are calling port of Colombo per day. It is the true situation of this trade in Sri Lanka. I.O.C. has realised the opportunities for bunkering. Sri Lankans are keeping a blind eye on these golden opportunities for generations.

Chairman of SLSSA has identified the followings shortcomings for non-development of Ship Supply Trade in Sri Lanka.

Lack of awareness among Entrepreneurs, Un-realistic regulations enforce by the Government Authorities, lack of relation ship with ISSA, poor supply of Duty Free goods to the ships, poor supply of services to the ships and lack of government support for this trade.