Category: Shipping and Transport

Feb 28, 2011 (LBO) – Investors who bid to set up industries in a new port in southern Sri Lanka are to start building their factories in March, Sri Lanka Ports Authority chairman Priyath Wickrama said. He said 23 proposals of 27 received for the deep-water Hambantota port on the south coast had qualified. “Three […]

Feb 28, 2011 (LBO) – Colombo Dockyard’s December 2010 quarter net profit more than doubled to 739 million rupees from a year ago despite flat sales while annual profits fell as repair work suffered from competition, a statement said. The Sri Lankan listed ship builder’s December 2010 quarter net was up 123 percent compared with […]

Feb 26, 2011 (LBO) – The global seafarers union has warned it would advise members against sailing in the Indian Ocean to avoid Somali pirates and mocked as “ludicrous” naval action that confiscate guns and set pirates free to strike again. The Somali piracy crisis comes at a time when the global merchant marine faces […]

Feb 17, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s first high-speed locomotive not only covered its inaugural journey in record time, but also maintained a centuries-old tradition of being late. However, the locomotive on the inaugural run was not the one that was supposed to be there in the first place. Maintaining another tradition, the authorities used […]

Feb 16, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka inaugurated a rail track on the south coast upgraded with Indian aid to enable train speeds of up to 100 kilometres an hour, reducing travel time, Wednesday, a statement said. The Galle-Matara track of 42 kilometres has been up-graded by India’s state-owned IRCON to world standards, the Indian […]

Feb 14, 2011 (LBO) – Car imports into Sri Lanka shot up by 300 percent to 23,072 in 2010 after the government slashed import duty and also because of rising demand after the end of a war, a government statement said. It said the number of cars registered with the motor traffic department in 2009 […]

Feb 12, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan listed ship yard Colombo Dockyard is currently doing repair work on several small tankers and a research vessel that will earn revenues of around four million US dollars, a statement said. The yard, a unit of Japan’s Onomichi Dockyard Company, expects revenue of 1.2 million dollars from major […]

February 11, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy Friday detained a foreign cargo ship and its Russian crew for allegedly failing to rescue a man who fell overboard, an official said. Navy spokesman Kosala Warnasuriya said the DD Vigor, registered in St Vincent and the Grenadines, was impounded while leaving the island after failing to […]

Feb 10, 2011 (LBO) – Greatship India is considering giving orders for bigger and more sophisticated vessels to Sri Lankan ship builder Colombo Dockyard, its managing director Ravi Sheth said after taking delivery of a 26 million US dollar craft. Sheth said Greatship has so far placed orders for 11 vessels with Colombo Dockyard, the […]

Feb 10, 2011 (LBO) – Infrastructure work on a new container port next to Sri Lanka’s existing Colombo harbour that will expand capacity has neared the halfway mark and is on schedule, officials said. Deputy ports minister Rohitha Abeygunawardene said the construction of the breakwater and dredging of the harbour basin will be completed by […]

Feb 09, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will need 55.6 billion rupees (500 million US dollars) to make emergency repairs and fully re-build roads damaged in record floods last month, an official said. The damaged roads were mostly in the Uva, Eastern, North Central and North Western provinces of the island. Pemasiri said road rebuilt […]

Feb 09, 2011 (LBO) – Container volumes at Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) terminals in Colombo port hit a new monthly record of 205,539, up 24 percent from a year ago, a statement said. Colombo port handled four million containers in 2010. The volumes exceeded the previous monthly high of 201,212 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) […]