Category: Shipping and Transport

Aug 01, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has cleared a tax anomaly which can make single cab trucks, especially some Indian brands, cheaper, Deputy Treasury Secretary S R Attygalle said.Until now imported single cab trucks were charged two rates of taxes based on whether the engine was protruding forward or not which had made some […]

July 31, 2013 (LBO) – State-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) expects to invest in foreign ports and look for opportunities in terminal management, a strategic plan running up to 2020 said.SLPA already has a 15 percent stake in Colombo International Container Terminal, where China Merchant (International) is the majority partner. “..SLPA will jointly explore […]

July 28, 2013 (LBO) – Scooters are becoming more popular in Sri Lanka making up about a third of all two-wheelers sold in the country now, the agents for India’s Mahindra group said at the launch of new models.Sri Lankan citizens who could not afford a car were buying up to 24,000 two-wheelers a month […]

CIANJUR, July 25, 2013 (AFP) – The confirmed death toll from the sinking of a boatload of Australia-bound asylum-seekers rose to 11 Thursday, as rescuers continued searching the seas off Indonesia for survivors.Local police spokesman Achmad Suprijatna told AFP two more bodies were found Thursday morning, two days after the boat sank off the southwestern […]

CIDAUN, July 24, 2013 (AFP) – More than 100 asylum seekers who were feared dead have been rescued after their boat sank off the coast of Indonesia’s Java island, an official said Wednesday, confirming that one child had died.Indonesia’s rescue agency was alerted by Australian authorities on Tuesday evening. “We don’t know exactly how many […]

NAIROBI, July 22, 2013 (AFP) – On Somalia’s pirate coast, more than 50 sailors are being held for ransom in grim conditions, many abandoned by their ship’s owner whose willingness to pay to free them sank with their boat.“The pirates have shown violence… the worst case is that they become agitated and open fire.” Last […]

July 18, 2013 (LBO) – A 260 million dollar circular highway around Sri Lanka’s Northeastern port city of Trincomalee will be built by a Chinese contractor with financing from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, a minister said.Information minister Keheliya Rambukwelle said the cabinet of ministers had awarded the building contract to Hunan Road […]

July 17, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Tokyo Cement group said it planned to buy two more vessels in the next three years, as the firm expanded.“Therefore, sudden spikes in freight costs have significant and unavoidable negative impacts on the company’s balance sheet. “Our decision to invest in our own fleet of vessels therefore, has […]

July 16, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s re-conditioned or imported used automobile registrations hit a 19 month high in June 2012 with Japanese made Toyota and Honda brands in pole position, an analysis by an equities research house shows.Imported used vehicles rose to 1,327 in June 2013, the highest since 1,205 hit in June 2011 […]

MOGADISHU, July 13, 2013 (AFP) – At least three, and perhaps all, of the 15-man crew of a merchant vessel that sank last week while being held by Somali pirates are alive, their families said Saturday.The Malaysian-flagged MV Albedo container ship, seized by Somali pirates in November 2010, sank last week in rough seas a […]

July 12, 2013 (LBO) – A top Chinese toll road company has landed deal to build and run a 1.5 billion US dollar expressway from the capital to central Sri Lanka, which could be the island’s largest single foreign investment to date.Hua Jian Highway Investment Company manages 6,900 kilometres of toll roads, bridges and tunnels […]

July 03, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run ports agency said it had begun testing a bunkering tank farm in at its newly built Hambantota port with a cargo of marine gas oil being unloaded.The tank farm has 08 tanks for marine fuel ranging from 3,000 cubic metres (two), 5,000 cubic metres (three) and 10,000 […]