Paradigm shift vital to develop logistics industry

The new government should make the air and sea ports competitive in pricing as the state-of-the-art facility in the maritime and transportation sector in the region, said National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka, Deputy President and Head of the Ports and Aviation Committee, Sujeewa Samaraweera.

"Our nation is enriched with a long history in the aviation and naval industry and was logistics hub for traders in the past. Our natural ports and the Ramayana history on aviation will enrich our knowledge in this industry," he said.

Samarweera said, "While appreciating the steps taken by the previous government to improve the Port of Hambantota, it is necessary to develop strategies to improve our transshipment volume in the Colombo Port.

There is a considerable decrease in transshipment cargo handled year-on-year and is of concern to the shipping community as the shipping services industry will suffer the consequences."

"The authorities should develop marketing strategies to compete with other Ports in the region. Our strategic location is ideal to offer a range of features such as ship repairs, bunkering, fuel and medical supplies.

"The government should set up thermal plants, oil refinery and petro chemical industries to boost the value of the ports.

The Colombo Port should be promoted highlighting advantages of the geographical location.

"It should maintain its historic position as the transshipment hub in the region while Hambantota should focus mainly on industrial, bunkering, ship repairing, food supplies and bonded export processing, bulk cargo and general cargo and fishing.

"The Sri Lanka Ports Authority should consider the price factor to compete in bunkering and other services with other players in the region.

At a time the shipping industry is facing global recession, the service cost of a port is a decisive factor for selecting location for transshipment and bunkering by ship owners.

"Our airports will also have the capacity of becoming the hub for airlines and cargo carries. Even in troubled times we enjoyed a higher volume of transshipment and due to lack of concentration on marketing we lost a good opportunity of becoming a hub for sea to air shipments in the region.

"The trucking industry plays a major role in logistics and cargo management which is essential to achieve the desired goals and expectations of the government which will in turn encourage foreign investors to set up businesses in any part of the country.

"The new government should take steps to drive the container trucking business with a new vision without political interference and take action to remove all barriers is obtaining port permits and impede corruption which will help to rebrand the industry to support the logistics hub.

"We are now left with a massive infrastructure which had cost a substantial amount of public funds and, therefore, immediate action should be taken to promote our ports internationally.

It is important to develop short-term marketing strategies to attract ship owners to the port as the new government has the capacity to develop a pragmatic naval hub in the region.

"We are committed to support the initiatives taken by the new government and officials to implement a marketing strategy and a business plan to maximise benefits," he said.