Performance Index gives wrong signal to investors - Rohan Masakorala

Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

Sri Lanka has been ranked 137th in the World Bank released Logistic Performance Index (LPI) for 2009. The country secured the 92nd place according to LPI 2007. The LPI has not given a true picture of the country’s capability and the list and the criteria, and Sri Lanka has been pushed from 92 to 137, it is unfair as the country has an efficient air and ocean shipping sector, Sri Lanka Shippers’ Council former Chairman and Asian Shippers’ Council Secretary General Rohan Masakorala told Daily News Business.

The index was arrived at by considering the strengths in rail, road, ocean shipping and air systems in a country.

The World Bank team is looking at the overall picture.

However, the Shippers’ Council or the freight forwarders have not been consulted for these LPI interviews this time as well.

“They are doing a fundamental mistake by placing sea, air, road, rail and inland waterways in one basket, ignoring the strengths of different countries and territories,” he said.

Sri Lanka has relatively efficient sectors of air travel and is far ahead in ocean shipping compared to some countries listed for ship (container) operations.

The Colombo port is ranked within the first 30 ports in the world and the largest and most efficient in South Asia. Seaborne trade accounts for a large part of the international trade supply chains efficiency. Not only being relatively a large port but Colombo has a good performance record and is improving in ships discharging and loading speeds and is very close to Malaysia and even Singapore. What is most important is the turnaround time for ships and Colombo is far faster than most of the countries that are listed above Sri Lanka in the LPI 2009, he said.

India, Bangladesh and Pakistan is ahead of Sri Lanka. This again contradicts the USAID report of 2007 which was done with great focus on the International Shippers’ Council (ISC) and Sri Lanka is way ahead compared to all these countries, when it comes to time, as well as the large hidden and non transparent costs involved in logistics, he said.

“The LPI gives a wrong signal to investors and buyers. It could have been agreed upon if the World Bank had a chart separating sea, air, and road and rail rankings and then combining the four against the overall performance with other criteria such as customs practices.

Then at least one would see each country’s SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities and threat). It is not proper to compare a landlocked country and a maritime nation. This is why I am critical of this LPI,” he said.