Shipping

Mercantile Marine Management forms alliance with Reederei NSB

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

An alliance between Mercantile Marine Management (MMM) and Reederei NSB was formed with a view to provide job opportunities for qualified young Sri Lankan seafarers.

The partnership with the (MMM) will be fruitful as the global shipping industry is on the recovery path and there will be more openings for the well trained qualified seafarers. We are confident of the caliber of Sri Lankan trained seafarers and consider them to be disciplined, qualified, skilled and well trained. This specialized service will be in much demand in the near future, Mercantile Shipping Group Managing Director Thomas Kriwat said.

The joint venture will enable (MMM) to manage international cargo vessels with competent and skilled crew.

As the company engages in a whole spectrum of services including chartering, new building supervision, quality management and crewing, we provide total solutions in ship management. Sri Lanka, with a vision to become a provider of skills and knowledge to the region could consolidate its position further, he said.

Sri Lankan seafarers are competent, well trained and ambitious. There is a great demand for them globally.

With the joint venture in place we will be able to provide the young seafarers with lucrative satisfying career, MMM Director and General Manager Captain Rohan Codipilly said.

The huge potential for seafarers will augur well for the shipping industry and there is a significant number of trained staff at present. Our own seafarer training academy, is capable of training over 200 students annually, MMM also manages eight Sri Lankan flag vessels currently. All recruitments are governed by stipulated regulations which helps build a strong labour force, he said.

The first vessel to be manned by a Sri Lankan crew, Bux Hansa will set sail on September 4, from Europe and continue to Africa, followed by yet another vessel MSC Malanga.

Mercantile Marine Management (MMM), was established in 1996, and provide a well trained Sri Lankan crew to the international shipping industry.

The company's firm belief in quality training paid dividends as subsequently MMM expanded its crew management services to full ship management and a versatile team of managers with international exposure. MMM has grown from strength to strength and is Sri Lanka's largest Crew Manager, and owns over 80 ships. MMM also has its own maritime academy in Galle, Mercantile Seaman Training Institute which educates young Sri Lankans to become top notch professional seafarers.

NSB Niederelbe Schiffahrsgesellschaft mbH and Co.KG, the Reederei NSB presents itself as one of the leading shipping companies worldwide based in Germany.

Their range of services includes ship management of container ships and tankers to supervision of new ship buildings throughout the world.

With a fleet of 50 percent, files the German flag, it establish safety and quality 'made in Germany' on the modern highways of container shipping.

Colombo Dockyard celebrates 38 years

During its long and exciting journey, the shipyard has offered repair assistance close to 9,000 ships and has contracted over 230 new ships for both local and international clientele. This indeed has been a remarkable journey, for a shipyard which started off with a humble beginning to be now recognized as an internationally acclaimed, modern, integrated shipyard.

Since its inception way back in 1974, Colombo Dockyard has been on national duty and now is one of Sri Lanka's largest foreign exchange earners, generating an average annual turnover of over US $.130 million, which equals to one percent of Sri Lanka's total export revenue.

In addition to the economic benefit, the socio-cultural benefit it provides to the country is immeasurable, providing employment to over 3000 Sri Lankans and industrial skill training to over 450 trainees (at any given time), and developing the indigenous industry in the country and placing Sri Lanka in the world map of elite shipbuilders and repairers. The growth of business volumes over the years demanded expansion of facilities, which compelled us to set up green field Kelani River Yard (KRY) in close proximity to the main Shipyard, but outside the port premises making it flexible to respond fast to various dynamics in the market.

The secret of success of the Shipyard has been due to its constant focus on being a step ahead to ensure that every challenge is transformed into an opportunity. In addition, the Shipyard believes in sustainable development for all our social stakeholders and to create a win-win situation for everyone.

Colombo Dockyard has contributed positively to the community, by way of playing a key role as a socially responsible corporate, which has been acknowledged by the industry ranking the shipyard within the top ten in the year 2011.

Seychelles President visits Colombo Dockyard

President of Seychelles, James Alix Michel accompanied by Jean Paul Adam, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development and a host of other dignitaries both from the Seychelles and Sri Lankan Ministry of External Affairs visited Colombo Dockyard recently.

President of Seychelles, James Alix Michel signing the visitors book.

Upon arrival, James Alix Michel and the delegation was briefed by Mangala P. B. Yapa, Managing Director/CEO, on the activities of Colombo Dockyard and discussions were held on various topics including possibilities of cooperation with Colombo Dockyard to meet ever increasing needs in the fields of shipbuilding and ship repairing in the Republic of Seychelles.

During discussions, Mangala Yapa explained how similar type of co-operation was developed with Maldives some years back and how well it has worked out with our Indian Ocean neighbor, with mutual benefit.

Colombo Dockyard having already positioned itself as a dynamic and versatile shipbuilding/ ship repairing facility in the Indian Ocean pledged its fullest support to offer specialized, top end engineering services ranging from the construction of Coast Guard Vessels, Fast Patrol Boats, Passenger cum Cargo Vessels.

Upon completion of the discussions, the delegation was taken on a guided tour of the Shipyard. The highlight of the tour was the visit on board GREATSHIP ROOPA, a 78 m Platform ROV/ Support Vessel built for Great ship Global Offshore Services Pte Ltd of Singapore.

President James Alix Michel praised and congratulated the Shipyard for the good work being performed and extended his best wishes for future success.

SAC launches pathway courses with Sri Lanka Foundation

An industry first career development path in Transport, Logistics and Trade (TLT) has been introduced by the Shippers' Academy Colombo (SAC), with its collaborative partner, Sri Lanka Foundation (SLF), which comes under the Presidential Secretariat.

The career path has three segments, where a three month certificate course will lead to a requirement fulfillment of the Director Merchant Shipping to hold a license to operate a logistics company in Sri Lanka. This is with reference to the government gazette of 1717 of 2011 by the ministry of Ports and highways. Students who complete the TLT course will be eligible to enter advanced certificate course in Shipping and Logistics offered at the Institute of Human Resource Advancement (IHRA), University of Colombo (UOC), which is to be a nine month course to be launched in 2013, in partnership is SAC/SLF.

At the Shippers’ Academy

Then the IHRA of UOC will offer an external degree for those students who complete the advanced certificate course.

The first batch of students for the TLT is now being enrolled and the course is scheduled to commence on August 24, at the Sri Lanka Foundation. The CEO of the Shippers' Academy, Rohan Masakorala, explaining further said that the TLT will cover all aspects of logistics which will include multimodal transport, shipping, international documentation, international trade and all related subjects.

It will give a broad understanding to the students the different aspects of global commerce and how it links to the supply chain on an end to end basis.

This is a first time initiative to formalize a career path to both students and industry personnel who have completed and passed the GCE O/L or with relevant experience in the field. We would like to invite parents looking for new employment opportunities for their children, to give them this basic training through the TLT and open their horizons to a field that is emerging with wider spectrum of specialties in the global market, Masakoral said

The course will open avenues for students to choose and identify various specialised subject areas for employment and to further career development in areas such as logistics management, supply chain management, port operations management, export/import management, aviation industry, shipping and services industry, customs and border control knowledge and global procurement and distribution industry,

The demand for employment in these highly paid professional jobs are ever increasing around the globe. Sri Lanka too is having a major shortage and a deficit of people academically and professionally qualified in this field.

The first TLT course is offered at a special introductory rate by the SAC/SLF and there will be a limited intake and applications.