Category: Shipping and Transport

Dec 29, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan logistics firm FPS Lanka is considering setting up offices in the new southern port of Hambantota and in eastern Trincomalee harbour to handle an anticipated influx of cargo flows for post-war reconstruction. It expects new logistics contracts to be awarded in the first quarter of 2011 as projects […]

Dec 27, 2010 (LBO) – The number of vehicles imported by Sri Lanka continues to surge after a sharp import duty reduction, with new registrations up 74 percent to 284,991 in January – October 2010 from a year ago, latest data shows. The number of trucks and other transport vehicles imported have risen by 57 […]

Dec 21, 2010 (LBO) – Colombo port volumes hit a new record of four million containers Tuesday supported by strong growth in both transshipment and import-export cargo, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) said in a statement. The number of twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers handled by the port is up 20 percent so […]

Dec 17, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers had given the nod for two ferry services to be set up with India between Colombo and Turicorin and Thalaimannar and Rameswaram, the government said. A large number of Sri Lankans also travel to India on business and pilgrimages. The government’s information office said a […]

Dec 14, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has approved tax cuts up to 50 percent of car import prices to senior state sector workers after nearly halving tariffs on motor vehicles a few months ago, a finance ministry circular showed. Until recently ordinary Sri Lankan’s were paying vehicles import taxes of over 300 percent, while […]

Dec 13, 2010 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan boat yard taken over and revived by Dubai-based interests delivered a trawler for an African client last week and plans to meet Indian navy requirements for small patrol boats, officials said. Solas Marine Lanka is part of Solas Marine Services group, a Dubai-based multinational providing services to […]

Dec 12, 2010 (LBO) – Warships from foreign navies, including India, joined Sri Lanka’s navy in a sail past Saturday amid improving maritime security co-operation to combat crimes on the high seas like human and arms smuggling. The Chinese navy sent the frigate ‘Lanzhou’ and Pakistan the frigate ‘Zulfiqar’ while the navies of Iran, Thailand […]

December 10, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police arrested four people Friday, including a Pakistani national, after seizing 50 kilos (110 pounds) of high-grade heroin with a street value of one million dollars. The drugs were found packed in a container of potatoes in the port of Colombo, police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody said. Most drug […]

NAIROBI, December 9, 2010 (AFP) – Somali pirates have released a Saudi oil tanker along with its 14-member crew which they seized nine months ago after a ransom was paid, a maritime watchdog said on Thursday. One act of piracy out of every two worldwide is carried out off the coasts of Somalia or in […]

Dec 09, 2010 (LBO) – The scheduled opening of an expressway linking Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo with the south next year will be delayed as heavy rain has impeded construction work on low-lying sections, an official said. The expressway is expected to result in greater economic development of the long-neglected southern region. The first phase […]

Dec 08, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is considering having “concessionary” bus fares at peak hours to help “private and public workers” one of the country’s transport ministers have told parliament, a media report said The minister for ‘private transport services’ C B Ratnayake was quoted as saying in the Daily Mirror newspaper that a […]

Dec 07, 2010 (LBO) – Container volumes handled by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) hit a record two million in the 11 months to November 2010, up 26. 5 percent from a year ago, a statement said. Total containers handled by the port of Colombo would reach four million TEUs (Twenty-foot container Equivalent Units) […]