Shippers' Council up in arms against arbitrary freight increases

The primary task of the Shippers' Council is to eliminate undue and arbitrary increases in terminal handling charges (THC) and other charges outside the freight rate which is a stumbling block to develop trade, said the new Chairman of the Sri Lanka Shippers' Council Ananda Wijesuriya.

Wijesuriya who was appointed Chairman for 2007/2008 at the 37th AGM of the Sri Lanka Shippers' Council on Wednesday said that he will seek the support of the stakeholders of the industry to fight against this monster created by some in the industry.

"Freight rates are determined by market forces such as the supply and demand and not by individuals who try to claim that they brought down freight rates.

Arbitrary increases in freight rates without consultation has to be condemned and action should to be taken against those who are acting contrary to the interests of the industry," he said.

The shippers need to be more professional and focused in their task. We could learn much from India which has developed its ports posing a great challenge to Sri Lanka's hub status.

India maintains a 9.2 per cent GDP growth rate while China's economy is expected to grow at a steady rate in the next few years.

Immediate past Chairman Sri Lanka Shippers' Council Jayanath Perera said the failure to develop our infrastructure to keep pace with developments in the region is due to the indifference of the authorities.

The space crunch at the Colombo Port is aggravating and as a result shipping lines are incurring a massive loss daily on account of the space limitation and even if terminal operators work efficiently it is of no avail, he said.

Perera said Sri Lanka's geographical strategic location is not good enough to retain the hub status. India launched a rapid port development program in the past six years.

Improvements in the rail-road system have helped develop trade. If Lanka's infrastructure is not developed soon we will lose our hub status and shipping lines will opt for other regional hubs for their import and export consignments.

The Shippers' Council has a greater role to play in overcoming the challenges the industry is now facing. A regional working arrangement for freight charges and the use of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) should be looked into, he said.

He commended the Tea Board for introducing EDI for tea shippers to eliminate unnecessary visits to the Department by export representatives to obtain permits, he said.

LF