Category: Shipping and Transport

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) […]

Feb 04, 2011 (LBO) – Repair work on vessels in Colombo Dockyard is continuing uninterrupted after an accidental explosion caused by leaking gas that injured 14 workers, a statement said. The yard is repairing two naval vessels, four tankers and a research vessel along with a liquid petroleum gas carrier owned by the Shipping Corporation […]

Jan 28, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state run container terminal in Colombo port will get three gantry cranes and six transfer cranes from China in February which will be up and running by March, an official said. Sri Lanka Ports Authority chairman Priyath Bandu Wickrema said a team from the port is now in […]

Jan 22, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state marine research agency will buy a survey and research vessel from Taiwan to deepen knowledge and also upgrade a technical college to ‘ocean university’ status, a government minister said. The state National Aquatic and Research Agency (NARA) had been given the nod by the cabinet of minister […]

SEOUL, January 21, 2011 (AFP) – South Korean navy commandos Friday stormed a ship hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, rescuing all the 21 crew and killing eight pirates, military officials said. The SEAL special forces boarded the South Korean ship before dawn, freeing all the hostages and killing the pirates in cabin-to-cabin […]

SEOUL, January 15, 2011 (AFP) – Suspected Somali pirates hijacked a South Korean-operated cargo ship with 21 crew on board in the Indian Ocean on Saturday, South Korean and European officials said. The 300,000-tonne Samho Dream and its 24 crew — five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos — were released only after a ransom reported […]

Jan 13, 2010 (LBO) – Head of Sri Lanka’s Vallibel, Dhammika Perera has been appointed to the post of secretary of the transport ministry. Vallibel has interests in ceramics, power, banking, tourism and gaming. Perera said he got the letter of appointment on Wednesday and he will unveil plans to develop the country’s transport sector, […]

Jan 08, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka and India have signed an agreement to start ferry services between the two neighbours with a meeting of officials to be held in Colombo next week, an Indian High Commission statement said. An Indian company, IRCON, has already commenced survey work for this purpose to restore the damaged […]

Jan 07, 2011 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) plans to invite investors to make proposals for investments in the eastern port of Trincomalee where large tracts of land are available by March, its chairman Priyath Wickrama said. The port has a cement plant and flour mill. “In the future we will not […]

Jan 06, 2011 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) plans to start bunkering or ship fuel operations at a new port in southern Hambantota in May, its chairman Priyath Wickrama said. Bunkering is seen as a lucrative business given the heavy ship traffic around the island. A tank farm with a capacity of […]

Jan 06, 2011 (LBO) – An expressway linking the Sri Lankan capital Colombo to the south is nearing completion with one section expected to be open to the public by June this year, a statement said. Work on roads near three cricket World Cup venues is also being expedited to cater to the large numbers […]