Category: Shipping and Transport

Oct 10, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Wednesday ordered the government to open all four financial bids to build a new container terminal in the new Colombo south port project, officials said. The order came after a consortium led by conglomerate John Keells Holdings sought court intervention when their technical bid for the […]

Oct 08, 2007 (LBO) – A new elevated highway connecting Colombo’s Fort areas with Malabe, a fast developing suburb will cost nearly 40 billion rupees, a Malaysian firm that is charged with studying its feasibility has said. Meanwhile a senior Sri Lankan official said the priority now was to push through a light rail project […]

Oct 07, 2007 (LBO) – DIMO, distributors of Mercedes Benz in Sri Lanka, says it hopes the newly introduced C-Class will revive sales but notes the increase in interest rates is a concern for the luxury vehicle market. The new C-Class known as W204, is expected to take-over from the old C-Class, the W203, as […]

Oct 06, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has asked a Malaysian firm to study the prospects for a highway from the Galle Face area of Colombo to the fast growing suburb of Malabe, PJI Holdings a Kuala Lampur listed firm, has said. This year the government is expected to spend around 170 million dollars on […]

Oct 05, 2007 (LBO) – John Keells Holdings’ (JKH) associate South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT) has reported record container volume growth in its Colombo port terminal but the facility is nearing capacity, port officials and analysts said. “SAGT will continue to be a cash generating operation but if JKH wants to be a growth story […]

Sept 30 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shippers say the government should follow the example of other countries in the region like India and China and introduce laws to curb the powers of shipping lines acting like cartels. The Global Shippers’ Forum and Asian Shippers Council at their recent meeting in Singapore called upon Asian governments […]

Sept 28, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shippers complain of government inaction in bringing anti-price fixing rules for shipping while India is moving against shipping lines accused of acting like cartels. The Shippers’ Council said they have now been forced to take court action to prod the government into action. “India is taking steps to […]

Sept 27, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hayleys conglomerate Thursday announced a new brand for its supply chain management business saying it wanted to expand in the Asia-Pacific market and had opened new offices in India and the USA. The group’s cargo logistics services will now be sold under the ‘Civaro’ brand which will bring […]

Sept 28, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has picked Hyundai, a Korean firm, to build a breakwater in Colombo that will allow terminal operators to nearly double the container handling capacity at the Port, an official said. The 320 million dollar contract will be awarded to Hyundai if Asian Development Bank, the concessional lender to […]

Sept 26, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is planning to revamp the Central Freight Bureau, a state agency that at the time controlled the shipping business, into a research body, officials said. The new organization hopes to provide research material of commercial value to the shipping community. Ranjith de Silva, additional secretary to the Ministry […]

Sept 26, 2007 (LBO) – Several fishing vessels chased and tried to board a yacht off southern Sri Lanka in a rare attempted incident of piracy, according to a report from a piracy watchdog. The yatch, whose identity was not revealed, was enroute from the Maldives to Malaysia. The yacht managed to evade the attempted […]

Sept 20, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s ship owners have warned that an unresolved dispute with Customs over a tax on vessels could force them to leave the Sri Lanka flag of registry. This could hurt the island’s prospects of building up its merchant fleet and encouraging foreign owners to register their vessels in the […]