Dr. Sarath Obeysekera

We proposed to establish an Offshore and Marine sector  industry which would have been a Dollar Generating  venture 

Instead same member of the committee sold it to another Chinese company 

God knows how our decision makers got Access to Chinese  to take over this port 

Now they are killing our own Port Business by starting transshipment trade 

If we started the Offshore  industry  at that time we would be generating more income for our country

Sri Lanka’s China-backed port starts container transshipment amid Red Sea crisis

MAIDEN CALL: MSC Ingrid sailing into Hambantota International Port to kick off container transshipment

Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 7:25 pm

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s China-backed Hambantota International Port Group said it had entered container transshipment, partnering with Switzerland-based Mediterranean Shipping Company.

The container vessel MSC Ingrid made her maiden call at the port on April 09, coming from Rotterdam and discharging 500 twenty-foot equivalent units, kicking off the transshipment service, the company said.

We are confident our container transshipment service will enhance Sri Lanka’s position in the marine connectivity index for the South Asian region,” Johnson Liu,Chief Representative of China Merchants Group in Sri Lanka and CEO of HIPG said.

With MSC’s collaborative partnership, HIPG will now look at expanding our investment in equipment and other infrastructure facilities, enabling us to service larger vessels on the east-west shipping route.” 

HIPG is a joint venture between China’s CM Ports group and Sri Lanka Ports Authority.

The boxes unloaded on April 09, will be picked up by another MSC vessel, ‘Sky 11’, on April 16 and be taken to Dubai.

Many mainline vessels that are by-passing Middle Eastern ports East of Suez and going around the Cape of Good Hope are discharging or picking up Middle Eastern cargo in Sri Lanka.

RELATED: 

Sri Lanka sails in to the breach as ships by-pass Middle East over Houthi attacks

Sri Lanka container volumes surge 30-pct in Feb amid Red Sea troubles

Container volumes at Colombo also surged 29 percent in February.

We plan to make optimal use of HIP’s strategic location, capacity and expertise, to deliver the full potential the port is capable of, doing our part to enhance Sri Lanka’s regional hub status,” Liu said.

Shamal Perera, Director-Operations and Regional Operations Manager-Colombo representing MSC Geneva, said his company was looking for best options for customers given the current situation in shipping.  

As a forward-thinking Carrier, MSC will always evaluate available options in order to be flexible in providing the best services to our customers,” Perera was quoted as saying in the statement. 

Sri Lanka’s Ports Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva supported HIP in granting the required approvals to facilitate the shipping connectivity between Hambantota and the Port of Colombo, Liu said.

Through this approval, local importers and exporters would be able to make direct shipments or transshipment of cargo to and from Hambantota to Colombo, the port said.

Given the climate change environmental concerns in the logistics and supply chain industry, the shipping connectivity between the two Ports will make a significant impact in reducing greenhouse gas emissions as opposed to road transport,” the port said. (Colombo/Apr09/2024)

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Regards

Dr Sarath Obeysekera