Category: Shipping and Transport

June 13, 2011 (LBO) – An toll expressway to Sri Lanka’s southern city of Galle is expected be completed by July 2011, but the pricing has not yet been decided, the head of the country’s road agency R W Pemasiri said. He said work on 31.6 kilometer stretch financed by the Japan Bank for International […]

June 12, 2011 (LBO) – The shipping division of Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence group has won a deal to improve the efficiency of the port of Nacala in Mozambique, building on its reputation elsewhere in Africa, the company said. The deal was made on the strong “reputation it has built as a result of the […]

June 09, 2011 (LBO) – A city taxi service using Tata Nano cars has started in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, but the firm cannot cope with demand for hires and is awaiting shipments from India to expand the fleet, an official said. But Dharmadasa says the firm can hardly cope with demand from local customers, […]

June 09, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shipbuilder Colombo Dockyard has begun building the second vessel in a contract for oil platform supply vessels from Greatship Global Offshore Services of Singapore. The vessel is also designed to accommodate 50 people. The keel for the Multipurpose Platform Supply Vessel, scheduled for delivery in the second quarter […]

May 30, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Mercantile Shipping lost 38 million rupees in the March 2011 quarter through revenues rose 22 percent to 197 million rupees, according to interim accounts. Last year Mercantile Shipping warned shareholders that despite taking delivery of new vessels international charter rates were depressed in the near term. For the […]

May 30, 2011 (LBO) – A passenger vessel that can carry up to 1,044 people is to be used to launch a transport service between Sri Lanka’s Colombo port and the south Indian harbour of Tuticorin. The ‘Scotia Princess’ ferry will initially do two voyages a week, said Classic Travels, a subsidiary of Expolanka Holdings, […]

May 29, 2011 (AFP) – India’s Tata Nano, billed as the world’s cheapest car, began its first export sales Sunday by entering the Sri Lankan market — but with a price tag nearly three times what it is at home. Sri Lanka reduced car duties by almost half in June last year, but then raised […]

May 22, 2011 (LBO) – India’s first cruise ship, Chennai flagged AMET Majesty will make calls on Sri Lanka’s Colombo and Trincomalee ports when it begins high seas cruises in June, a media report said. India is already the largest generator of tourists to Sri Lanka. Arrivals have boomed since the island introduced visa on […]

May 16, 2011 (LBO) – Container cargo at Sri Lanka’s main port of Colombo, south Asia transhipment hub, rose in the first quarter of this year indicating continued growth in regional and domestic trade. Ship traffic at Colombo port rose eight percent to 376 in March 2011 from a year and grew 4.3 percent to […]

May 13, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan ship builder Colombo Dockyard said March 2011 quarter net profit rose 78. 4 percent to 467 million rupees from a year ago with gains from both ship building and repair. The Dockyard filing said that with effect from January 01, 2011, that it has recognised additional revenue of […]

May 11, 2011 (LBO) – Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Container Line has become the latest container shipping line to announce a freight rate hike in what carriers call ‘rate restoration’ programmes. OOCL has told shippers it is raising rates on Asia-Europe trade lanes as present rates were not sustainable. “The ocean freight rate for Asia […]

May 11, 2011 (LBO) – KIA Motors of South Korea plans to begin selling small cars in Sri Lanka by July 2011 following the introduction of its KIA Optima car in the island, an official said. KIA Optima cars with 2.0 litre petrol engines will begin arriving by September and will be sold at an […]