Systems will be fully automated by year's end - SLPA director

by P. Krishnaswamy

Senior executives of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), the Sri Lanka Shippers’ Council (SLSC) and the Bank of Ceylon (BoC) clarified various issues raised by business leaders, industry participants and representatives on the newly implemented ‘cargo management module for exports and its further development’ at an open discussion last week at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC).

It was organised by SLSC, SLPA and the BoC and was attended by a large number of representatives of various sectors of the country's import and export trade.

The objective of the meeting was to facilitate effective trading and create a platform to address issues of traders.

The discussions focused mainly on issues relating to service order, pre-advice, stuffing functions, container operation from stores to SLPA, delays with regard to payment of refunds, BoC online payment process, connectivity to BoC payment and gateway through the SLPA system.

Participants expressed concern over the considerable amount of information required by the system, which in some cases extended waiting time for confirmation. They were of the view that the trade needs a 24-hour operating system so that the exporters and importers can continue their operations without any interruption.

The said, an effective system to accept and deal with exporters’ issues during night operations is a necessity. Director Technical, Datta Gunasekera, who is in-charge of the system, said that the SLPA had some difficulty at the beginning as many people were against automation, but they put matters in place and would closely monitor activities .

He was confident that by the end of the year the systems would be almost fully automated.It was pointed out that the trade was slow to adapt to the new systems as they did not have a proper understanding of the automation process.

He said that SLPA is in the process of implementing a cargo management module for imports. The system would facilitate automated import cargo clearing operations through the Port of Colombo.Chairman of SLSC, Dinesh de Silva said that they were pleased that there had been rapid progress on the system and the SLPA team was always willing to accommodate trade requirements.“I expect all shippers to highlight the constraints and I wish to assure you that the Council will take up all trade related issues with the relevant authorities ensuring a level playing field and we will do our best to take the industry to the next level.

We all should work together to achieve a fully automated system soon for both exports and imports,” he said.