Category: Shipping and Transport

April 22, 2009 (LBO) – Colombo Dockyard stands to benefit from several concessions being considered in the new draft Sri Lankan government shipping policy, industry officials said.“In the absence of any other local builder capable of meeting local demand, removing such a ceiling will be considered by government as otherwise it would only open the […]

April 16, 2009 (LBO) – Fourteen potential investors have collected bid documents to build and operate a container terminal in a new port coming up next to Colombo harbour, Sri Lankan government officials said. A notable absence is Dubai Ports World, another big global port operator, which is heavily involved in operating container terminals in […]

April 15, 2009 (LBO) – A Chinese contractor building a part of an expressway to Sri Lanka’s south has more than doubled the original contract value following cost escalations and a decision to widen the road.The cost of building the section of road from Kottawa in the suburbs of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo to Dodangoda, […]

April 15, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s over-staffed and inefficient state-owned bus and railway services made heavy losses in 2008 despite higher revenues after fare increases, the central bank said. Still, despite the average railway fare increase of 42 percent in 2008, it was not enough to generate a profit. “However, the fare revision in […]

April 12, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may sue the owners of Turkish ship which sank off the island’s northeastern coast with a cargo of sulphuric acid, under marine pollution laws, a media report said. The Turkish ship Motari Magnor Granba carrying a cargo of 6,250 metric tonnes of cargo sprang leak near the Trincomalee […]

April 10, 2009 (LBO) – Belgium will recognize seafarer certificates issued by Sri Lanka allowing seamen from the island to serve aboard Belgian flagged vessels under a deal between the two countries, a government minister said.The merchant shipping division of Sri Lanka’s ministry of ports and aviation had signed a memorandum of understanding with the […]

April 01, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is in talks with the Asian Development Bank on ways to raise funds to build the last stretch of a key highway linking the island’s south with the capital Colombo, a senior ADB official said.The highway, meant to link the capital Colombo with the town of Matara in […]

March 24, 2009 (LBO) – Two big shipping lines, four Sri Lankan conglomerates, and a Middle East port operator were among the prospective bidders for a new container terminal in Colombo port which met government officials last week. Two shipping lines also took part, Maersk, the world’s biggest shipping line, and APL, another big shipping […]

March 20, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has ruled out ship breaking as an industry under its efforts to promote the island as a maritime hub, going against the trend in the region, according to a new national port and shipping policy.Developed countries have had to face pressure from the public as well as environmental […]

March 13, 2009 (LBO) – Global logistics firm DHL said it will invest eight million dollars in Sri Lanka to set up a joint venture for supply chain services, including those tailored for the island’s apparel export industry.The investment of just over 800 million rupees in three years will go towards the joint venture, employee […]

ROME, March 11, 2009 (AFP) – An appeals court in southern Italy sentenced a Pakistani shipowner to 30 years in prison for his role in the drowning deaths of 283 illegal immigrants more than a decade ago, ANSA reported Wednesday.Maltese resident Ahmed Sheik Turab, 48, was considered the organiser of a 1996 sea journey of […]

March 07, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan ship builder Colombo Dockyard said net profit rose 32 percent to almost 1.5 billion rupees in 2008 from the year before, as it reaped the benefits of the shipping boom earlier in the year. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send […]