SLPA gears to facilitate lay -up vessels
The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) is gearing to facilitate lay-up
vessels struck in the global economic crisis at local anchorages.
Sri Lanka is trying to position itself to attract the growing ship
lay-up business triggered by the global economic slump and has earmarked
safe anchorages for vessels.
“We have got clearance from the security authorities now to lay up
vessels in safe anchorages outside Colombo harbour”, SLPA Managing
Director Capt. Nihal Keppetipola said. SLPA had been having several
requests from shipping lines on the possibility of laying up their ships
in the anchorages of SLPA.
SLPA is also holding talks with the authorities of the defence
sectors on using the Eastern Port of Trincomalee for laying up ships as
it is one of Asia’s biggest natural harbours. It was used for ship
lay-up during down turns in the shipping market before the outbreak of
the ethnic war in the early 1980s.
The officials in the shipping industry say that the country can earn
fees for laying up vessels and also providing services to maintain the
ships until they are recalled for service when the market turns towards
a steady flow.
The demand for ship lay-up arose with the collapse in the shipping
trade caused partly due to the global economic down turn which has
reduced trade and partly by a huge over-supply of vessels.
Shipping lines seek to lay up their vessels when it becomes
uneconomic to operate them when the slump in the market hits earnings
because of reduced demand, delivery of new vessels and fewer ships being
scrapped.
The worst hit by the downturn were container ships and bulk carriers
with tankers also now getting affected because of the lower oil market,
according to the records in the industry.
The sources also indicate that with charter rates plunging and
earnings poor, loss-making shipping lines are scrambling to pull ships
out of the market and lay them up until the market recovers.
The over supply situation arose because of a heavy bout of ordering
in recent years during the boom in shipping. Some container lines
already have almost a quarter of their ship capacity in lay-up with the
average figure being nine percent for the top 24 container lines.
The situation has become worse that some newly built vessels are
heading straight for lay-up. countries such as Malaysia have been
successful in promoting some of their anchorages for ship lay-up. |