Category: Shipping and Transport

Nov 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Colombo Dockyard has been short-listed in a contract to build more passenger ferries for an Indian government customer, having completed delivery of two vessels, officials said. The new vessels to be ordered are bigger, being capable of carrying 400 passengers and 250 tonnes of cargo. Jitendra Kumar Dadoo, […]

Nov 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka imported over 10,000 cars in the four months after import duty was slashed in June this year while state revenue has also soared, a senior finance ministry official said. The tax reduction brought down excise duty on a Maruti car, a popular model, to 90 percent from 183 […]

Oct 29, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Colombo Dockyard delivered the second of a pair of passenger vessels for an Indian customer but warned profitability could dip this year owing to the effects of recession and growing competition. The island’s 30-year ethnic war ended in May 2009 leading to the removal of marine war-risk insurance […]

Oct 28, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shipbuilder Colombo Dockyard has secure contracts for two 78-metre Multipurpose Platform Supply Vessels (MPSVs) for Greatship Global Offshore Services of Singapore, a statement said. The vessels, to support offshore oil and gas fields around the clock, are scheduled for delivery in the fourth quarter of the 2012 financial […]

Oct 22, 2010 (LBO) – A new port being built in Sri Lanka’s southern Hambantota has drawn investment proposals from local and foreign businesses including the local Senok Combine and Micro Car for vehicle assembly, officials said. The second phase will expand and deepen the harbour, adding more berths and cranes to handle containers. Madras […]

Oct 15, 2010 (LBO) – India and Sri Lanka have agreed on and initialled a draft agreement to resume ferry services between the two neighbours that was disrupted by the island’s ethnic war, a statement said. “The two sides agreed on the text of the Memorandum of Understanding for passenger transportation by sea between the […]

Oct 14, 2010 (LBO) – The increase in cargo flows from India generated by accelerating economic growth will ensure business for a new container terminal that Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence is investing in, an official said. “India’s economic growth in 2018 is expected to surpass China’s,” Dissanayake said. “When the economy grows they will handle […]

Oct 11, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s logistics and transport bottlenecks will come under scrutiny at an international conference this week where partnerships between the public and private sectors will also be considered, officials said. The island now has an opportunity to rebuild its transport infrastructure which was neglected or destroyed during the 30-year ethnic […]

Oct 08, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Road Development Authority has commissioned the Moratuwa University to do a study on the island’s future requirements for expressways and connections with the existing road network, an official said. Road Development Authority chairman Ranjith Premasiri said the survey, being done by transport and logistics experts at the university, […]

Oct 06, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Diesel and Motor Engineering Company, agents for Mercedes Benz and Tata vehicles, says monthly volumes have doubled to 1,000 units from a year earlier following an economic upturn and cuts in vehicle taxes. The firm also sells Chrysler and Jeep brands from the US, Mahindra and Mahindra vehicles […]

Sept 30, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has decided to call for fresh tenders to build a section of highway around the capital Colombo as bids from Japanese contractors were too high, an official said. The Outer Circular Highway will be connected to the expressways only by four interchanges at four suburban towns – Makumbura, […]

Sept 28, 2010 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Ports Authority which runs the island’s ports expects to be able to handle payments by port users online by January next year, an official said. It will eliminate the need for port users to visit the harbour to make payments, he said. Both its internal finance division […]