SHIPPING

Challenges faced by container trucking industry

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

In line with the President's vision of creating a naval hub in Sri Lanka, the trucking industry plays a major role. Supply chain and cargo management is vital to achieve the desired goals and expectations of the government which will in turn encourage foreign investors to establish their businesses in any part of the country.

Sujeiva Samaraweera

The emerging Hambantota Port is of immense importance to the industry as this will be an attractive location to many shipping lines, Atlas Logistics Lanka (Pvt) Ltd Managing Director Sujeiva Samaraweera told Daily News Business.

The trucking industry in Sri Lanka offers employments to over 100,000 direct and indirect jobs as there are over 6,000 container trucks entering the Colombo Port in a daily creating indirect employment for mechanics, painters, vehicle body builders and many other related fields. Therefore the contribution to the national economy from this industry is highly commended, he said.

Elaborating on the challenges faced by the industrialists, he said that the vehicle owners are facing challenges of increasing fuel prices and other costs such as vehicle servicing, tires, tubes, spare parts etc. It will be difficult to run this business at a profit, considering the price increases at a regular basis. The heavy traffic situation around the Port of Colombo is directly effecting the increasing costs and idling time of the vehicles are unmanageable. Cost of a running KM is around Rs 120 -150 depending on the vehicle. Therefore the owners are compelled to increase the rates to sustain this business.

Due consideration should be given by the Ports Authority and the Police Department to effectively coordinate this issue and remedial action be taken to achieve mutual benefit. Ports Authority should severely consider the requests made by the 2 organizations mainly Association of Container Transporters (ACT)and the 20 Footers Society revolving the practical issues faced. ACT should be commended for resolving last week's stoppage of work by the truck drivers which could have made serious damage to our shipping industry. This gives us negative publicity in the global shipping industry.

The Industry should not allow the drivers or the cleaners to take the law into their hand. But as a industry we have to look into the basic needs of the workers, giving due consideration to their reasonable request enabling them to act with self-respect and dignity.

The support services such as Customs and Sri Lanka Navy also should join hands in finding a lasting solution for this issue and Sri Lanka Customs Department has a greater role to play, he said.

The Director of Customs at the RCT terminal has taken immediate steps to ease off the congestion by distributing the cargo to other terminals. Shipping industry prefers if the Customs Department has a possibility of working round the clock and the imports are released to the consignees during the night time which will resolve many matters.

The truckers will face the challenge in the near future by operating in the new toll roads and the fleet of vehicles operate 100 km per hour. The NCCSL suggest the reduction of the speed of container carriers until the new vehicle fleet is replaced. Government banks should look at easy payment schemes for the fleet owners to upgrade the present day demand.

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Colombo Dockyard completes carrier Ionian Sea repairs

DND Management Inc. Greece managed Bulk carrier Ionian Sea (Dwt 37.295) called in for major drydocking and lay up repairs during November, created a record for the shipyard with the lady superintendent in attendance.

MV. Ionian Sea at the Colombo Dockyard’s 125,000 dwt drydoc

Colombo was the best option for the owners/managers given the strategic location closer to her discharging port (India). This drydocking call was a major work scope consisted of steel renewal (25 Tons), mainly tank internals and cross deck stiffeners. Stern tube seal renewal and other related repairs along with routine drydock repairs.

This was the owner's first experience with Colombo Dockyard. The owner's interests were looked after by Representative Antoine Doucas and Superintendent Engineer Elia Kostapoulou. This is the first time in the history of the shipyard that a Lady Superintendent had been assigned to overlook the repairs; which goes into history.

The yard team was headed by Ship Manager Ajith Kariyapperuma - and well-supported by all production departments to re-deliver the vessel on schedule. The owners were surprised with the excellent facilities and quality workmanship, professional that met the owner's requirements and was highly appreciated.

The bulk carrier was accommodated in the 125,000 DWT drydock for her repair requirements and thereafter she was accommodated at the yard alongside pier. The repairs were carried out meeting the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) classification society requirements.

Considered as India's fourth largest commercial port:

Mundra Port handles 1m tonnes fertilizer cargo in Nov

Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Ltd (MPSEZ), which is a private multi-port operator and an arm of Adani Enterprises Ltd, has said that its Mundra Port, which is situated here in Gujarat, has handled 984,000-metric tonnes of fertilizers in the month of November. This figure has made it one of the largest fertilizer handling ports in India.

Mundra Port is considered as India's fourth largest commercial port and it is well equipped to handle almost 20% share of India's annual fertilizer imports that was at 22-million tonnes presently with a total capacity of 500,000 metric tonnes.

The state-of-the-art facility is a boon by fertilizer distribution firms due to its automated fertilizer bag filling system. Almost 8-10 rakes are loaded on daily basis.

Capt. Unmesh Abhyankar, COO - MPSEZ, said, "We, at Mundra Port, aim to capture the top slot in the Country for handling imported fertilizer cargo also as we did with coal. High level of mechanization, state-of-the-art technology, our robust processes and very committed employees are behind this success."

As India's fertilizer imports is expected to surge, Mundra Port is hoping to break its own record and tap a higher share of the imported fertilizer cargo in the upcoming few years.

Lanka Ship Suppliers Association 36th AGM

Edward Weerasinghe-Kelaniya Group Corr

The 36th Annual General Meeting of Sri Lanka Ship Suppliers Association was held at Hotel Galadari, presided over by the Chairman Samson C De Silva recently.

The Chairman Samson C De Silva was re-elected unanimously for the second time while Vice Chairman A Kadir Ishak, Secretary J M Faiz and Treasurer Eric Cooray for the year 2011-2012.

On behalf of the Past Chairman of the Association, Haniffa Ishak highlighted the need of further recognition of the Association not only in the Maritime sector but also in the entire nation while expressing gratitude to the previous boards for bringing the Association to the present position.

The Chief Guest of the occasion, Sri Lanka Ports Authority Harbour Master Capt Ravindra Jayawickrama elaborated the vast development in the ports of Sri Lanka thereby opening more opportunities for ship chandelling industry by way of attracting port calls by foreign ships, good quality ship services, in Sri Lanka thereby increasing foreign exchange earnings.