Category: Shipping and Transport

May 4 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-owned railway is trying to find money to make urgent repairs to dilapidated tracks, which is forcing trains to run slow. “Trains are getting delayed because of the bad rail track conditions,” General Manager of Railways, K A Pemasiri said. “We need to replace sleepers and carry out urgent […]

May 3 (LBO) – A Chinese construction firm selected to design and build the Colombo-Katunayake expressway submitted their financial proposal last week after a two-month delay. A government appointed technical evaluation committee is now going through the proposal and hopes to have their report out as early as next week, secretary to the Highways Ministry, […]

May 3 (LBO) — A new ticketing system for Sri Lanka that cuts the paper trail between airlines and travel agents took off Wednesday, with Emirates issuing the first tickets. Instead of individual ticket formats issued by airlines, travel agents are given a stock of Standard Traffic Documents (STD) to issue tickets for all airlines […]

Apr. 28 (LBO) – SriLankan Airlines Friday said it will raise fuel surcharge on ticket prices by up to 30 dollars from May 5, to partially offset soaring energy costs. The Dubai based carrier has a contract with the Sri Lankan government to run the airline and that expires on March 31, 2008. -Mel Gunasekera […]

DHAKA, Apr. 25 (AFP) – Cash-strapped national carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines is looking for a strategic partner to revive its financial fortunes, a minister said Tuesday.“We are seriously looking for strategic partners so that we can share management and aircraft with a reputed airline to make Biman a profitable corporation,” junior civil aviation minister Mirza […]

SINGAPORE, Apr. 25 (AFP) – The Philippines, Singapore and Japan escaped the 2004 tsunamis which devastated much of Asia but some potential travelers believe otherwise, a survey released Tuesday found. The poll of thousands of respondents across 10 global markets found that an average of 18 percent said several destinations untouched by the tragedy were […]

PARIS, Apr.24 (AFP) – From cars to planes, chemical plants to retail, every sector in the world economy is having to adapt to the prospect that high oil prices are going to last.Most oil firms are transferring the price hike to their clients, noting that high oil revenues stimulate research and development. CARS: Although driving […]

Apr.21 (LBO) – China Friday agreed to give a billion rupee grant to build three flyover roads in Sri Lanka, the Finance Ministry said. – LBO Newsdesk “The three infrastructure projects will help reduce the traffic congestion on the highly congested interchanges at Nugegoda and Welikada and also the road section from Kadawatha to Kiribathgoda,” […]

Apr.17 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Department of Railways is planning to rent locomotives from India, Transport Minister A H M Fowzie said Monday. We can rent a one for Rs100,000 a day and earn about Rs150,000 out of it,” Minister Fowzie told LBO. We are currently discussing with the Indian railway consultancy RITES, how this […]

Apr.07 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will go back to five and a half hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) from the traditional Sinhala and Tamil New Year of April 14, joining the same time zone as giant neighbour India. Departure and arrival times of flights into and out of Colombo will advance by half […]

Apr.06 (LBO) – Engineers of the Colombo Port are urging the president to speed up a project to modernise the port’s computer system, which will improve efficiency and maintain its position as a hub port.The Sri Lanka Ports Authority Engineers Union has appealed to President Mahinda Rajapakse to fast track the process of commissioning a […]

Apr.03 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has asked the Pakistan government to start a Colombo-Karachi ferry service and liberalise air services during President Mahinda Rajapakse’s recent state visit to the neighboring country, a senior government minister said. -Jayantha Kovilagodage: jayantha@  “At the moment there are three flights a week to Pakistan from Sri Lanka, and two […]