Category: Shipping and Transport

Oct 20, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) is to invite investments from the private sector early next year to set up business in a new port being built in the southern region.Wickrema said the SLPA will invite proposals for businesses in the port such as warehousing, and cement and fertiliser manufacture. […]

Oct 16, 2008 (LBO) – Freight costs could fall with an expected slowdown in the US economy and the end this weekend of shipping liner cartels which fix rates, Sri Lankan shippers said.Sri Lankan shippers have long enjoyed the advantage of having main line vessels calling at Colombo to pick up transshipment cargo, which usually […]

Oct 15, 2008 (LBO) – The Maersk group, which runs the world’s biggest shipping line, may be interested in investing in a new container terminal in the planned new deep-draft port next to Colombo, a company official said.“The last time APMT did not participate because it was involved in too many projects and its resources […]

Oct 14, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lana’s government plans to deregulate railway freight rates and invite private sector participation to increase movement of goods by rail, according to a new transport policy unveiled recently.“Railway freight tariffs will be de-regulated and the Sri Lanka Railways will be permitted to determine tariffs competitively to attract freight transport […]

Oct 10, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Colombo port needs to move fast to build new deep-water terminals if it is to remain competitive, a senior official of the local office of Maersk, the world’s biggest shipping line, has said.While the state-owned Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) can be developed it needs to increase efficiency. “Additional […]

Oct 06, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) intends to build and operate a container terminal in the planned new deep-draft port being built next to Colombo’s existing harbour, its acting chairman Priyath Bandu Wickrema said. The project team and cabinet-appointed negotiating committee had finalised the fresh bid document for the new […]

Oct 03, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) plans to increase storage of ship fuels at its newly acquired tank farm near Colombo port by building more tanks, its acting chairman Priyath Bandu Wickrema said. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 The […]

Sept 29, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has slammed police and bribery authorities and summoned the country’s former finance secretary to court over a judgment involving the privatization of a bunker firm, an official said. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 The latest […]

Sept 27, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) said Friday that it had started bunkering operations in Colombo port through a newly established subsidiary. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 The JCT Ltd. Oil Bank, a fully owned subsidiary company of the […]

NAIROBI, September 18, 2008 (AFP) – Pirates seized another ship off the Somali coast in the Indian Ocean, a maritime official said Thursday. Andrew Mwangura of the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Programme said the “Great Creation” was hijacked on Wednesday but added further details on its origin, crew and destination were not immediately […]

Sept 16, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is hoping to call fresh bids for a container terminal concession in an expanded port in Colombo in October, a government minister said, after an earlier bidding round was abandoned partway through the process. A breakwater to expand Colombo port is now being built with Asian Development Bank […]

Sept 15, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s John Keells Holdings says its bunkering unit lost 20 million rupees (184,000 US dollars), because it was unable to remove all oil stocks by a court deadline of September 12, after it was ordered to vacate a tank farm.The company said oil stocks valued 45 million rupees (416,000 […]