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Shipping
Security
concerns delay Indo-Lanka ferry The operators
are banking on cheaper fares and big baggage allowances to entice
travellers away from airlines, despite the length of the voyage
between Colombo and Tuticorin, on India's east coast, being over
six hours on even the fastest available ferry. At least three
Sri Lankan firms and several Indian ones are believed to be interested
in operating ferry services for which the two governments are negotiating
a memorandum of understanding. The MoU has
been delayed by several months despite visits to India by Port Development
and Shipping Minister Rauff Hakeem for talks with Indian ministers. Some shipping
officials said the delay appeared to be only procedural with many
approvals being required between India's provincial and central
governments. However, Indian
Shipping Minister Ved Prakash Goyal was reported last week to have
confirmed that there was a snag in talks on the ferry service with
the defence ministry. He is reported to have expressed the hope
that the hitch will be removed in two or three months. The Indian
coast guard is also reported to have reservations about having passenger
ships plying between the two countries. Part of the
delay was because the port of Tuticorin, which handles mostly cargo,
was not geared to handle large numbers of passengers although it
has now modernised and expanded its infrastructure. Colombo has
long had facilities to handle passengers. The Sri Lanka Ports Authority,
the Customs and Immigration authorities are refurbishing their facilities
to handle large numbers of passengers. Colombo also has a new cruise
ship berth built by South Asia Gateway Terminals which operates
the Queen Elizabeth Quay container terminal. "There
is tremendous demand for the ferry service," said SLPA chairman
Parakrama Dissanayake. "We're now refurbishing our passenger
jetty to cater to a large number of travellers. Immigration and
Customs officers will be stationed there on a full time basis." The Tuticorin
Port Trust announced last November that it had received government
approval for the service, but its launch was postponed indefinitely,
despite the port's preparation of a berth, passenger amenities,
customs, immigration and foreign exchange facilities. It also upgraded
security measures. Reports said
that while various Indian ministries had cleared the proposal, the
defence authorities had raised questions over national security,
in the context of the growing threat of terrorism in the region. One of the
Sri Lankan companies preparing to launch the ferry service said
it plans to acquire an ex-Royal Navy destroyer converted to be used
as a passenger ferry in the Philippines. This vessel
is capable of carrying 450 passengers and operating throughout the
year, even during monsoon weather, said S.M. Godwin, who represents
a consortium formed with two big players in the industry whom he
declined to identify at the moment. The ship has
three decks, airline-style seating and a speed of 25 knots, allowing
it to do the run between Colombo and Tuticorin in 7-8 hours, he
said. They will offer a baggage allowance of 100 kg compared with
only 20kg in airlines. Another operator,
Greenlanka Shipping, has already advertised its service which it
plans to launch using the City of Trinco ferry that operated between
Trincomalee and Jaffna when road transport was not possible. This
ferry is slow - capable of around 12 knots - and the trip to Tuticorin
could take about 14 hours. Another player interested in operating
a ferry is Expo Lanka. Godwin said
his firm would charge $70 or around Rs 6,700 for the roundtrip and
that they want to attract part of the huge and expanding flow of
passenger between the two countries who now travel by air. The cost
of the airfare is about Rs. 15,000. "We're aiming at students and devotees. There are 32 flights between India and Sri Lanka each week with each flight having 280 seats," Godwin said. "The flights are always fully booked. It is very difficult to get a seat." More
super post-Panamax cranes for QEQ "SAGT
marked another important date in its calendar of development when
two additional super post-Panamax gantry cranes arrived at their
berth," a company spokesman said. "These
cranes will provide the necessary firepower for SAGT to surge ahead
of any competition in the region." The two quay
gantry cranes will complement the four super post-Panamax gantries
that are already in operation at the Queen Elizabeth Quay operated
by the international consortium led by P&O Ports. "These
super post-Panamax gantry cranes are fitted with the latest electronic
and control systems to provide maximum productivity and ergonomic
design for the comfort of the operators," he said. The sophisticated data communication capability of these cranes provide for real-time data transmission and real-time performance monitoring to obtain maximum efficiency, he added. Malaysian
ports need $1.1 bln investment to expand Malaysian ports
had grown from handling one percent of world trade to three percent
and must seek to raise their share to four to five percent, Transport
Minister Ling Liong Sik was quoted as saying by The Star. In 1995, Malaysian
ports handled only 2.5 million boxes or twenty-foot equivalent units
(TEU) but presently handled nine million TEUs, of which a major
part were transshipment boxes, he said. "Soon
there will be 300 million boxes in the world and we must strive
to achieve at least four percent, if not five percent of this volume
which is 15 million boxes," Ling said. "To achieve
this, we need to invest four billion ringgit (1.1 billion dollars)
more to increase our terminal capacity and ensure we have trained
staff to move the additional volume." Malaysia's main Klang
Port has jumped from 26th largest port in the world to 12th in the
last two years, and Ling said the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP)
would soon be among the world's top 20. PTP, which
is in southern Johor state just across the narrow Tebrau Strait
from Singapore, last week said it grew 30 percent year-on-year in
2002 and aimed to repeat the growth this year. Singapore, which lost Denmark's Maersk Sealand and Taiwan's Evergreen Marine to PTP last year, has overhauled its shipping strategy, including cutting handling fees and offering shipping lines the opportunity to run their own berths. Mineral
sands shipments set to resume The company
has called for international tenders for the mineral sands stockpiled
in its godowns at Kanijapura in Pulmoddai, officials said. Stocks consist
of 60,000 tonnes of ilmenite, 60,000 tonnes of crude zircon and
about 1,000 tonnes of rutile. The company
has had to stop mining because all the godowns at Pulmoddai are
full. The stockpiles built up after bulk shipments were suspended
in September 1997 when the Sea Tigers sank a bulk carrier filled
with ilmenite. Since then,
small quantities of rutile and crude zircon brought by road have
been exported in 40-kg bags through Colombo port mostly to China,
India and the United Kingdom. Mineral sands
at the Pulmoddai mine are known to be rich in ilmenite, monazite,
rutile and zircon. Lanka Mineral
Sands expects to resume shipments with the end of the north-east
monsoon around mid-April. Shipments are not possible during the
monsoon months because Pulmoddai does not have a sheltered anchorage. The sand is taken by barge and loaded on to vessels anchored offshore. SAGT
handles record box volume "This
is a record achievement considering the fact that Sri Lanka's first
and only private terminal operator was operating with only 3.5 (three
and a half) quay gantry cranes during the year 2002," a spokesman
said. The terminal
operated with two quay gantry cranes with effect from February and
a fourth crane was brought into operation in September. The available
berth length was only 650 metres. Industry officials
said the achievement indicated that the privatization of the QEQ
had paid dividends and the new terminal operator setting the necessary
benchmarks for the government-controlled terminal to follow. The record performance will also help give a boost to the port of Colombo to enhance its volumes this year and attract the attention of main line operators. PTP
aims to repeat 30 percent growth this year PTP, which
is in Johor state just across the narrow Tebrau Strait from Singapore,
handled 2.66 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) last year,
up 30 percent from 2001 and surpassing its own estimate of 2.5 million
TEUs. Transhipment
containers made up 95 percent of last year's volume, while five
percent was local exports and imports, it said in a statement. PTP attributed
the strong growth to new markets for cargo and its success in luring
Denmark's Maersk Sealand and Taiwan's Evergreen Marine to shift
their regional hubs from Singapore to PTP. Chief executive
Sidik Shaik Osman said the growth, amid volatile economic conditions,
moved PTP closer to its target of being the premier transshipment
centre in the region. "On targets
for year 2003, PTP is confident of achieving a further 30 percent
year-on-year growth," the statement said. The port has
begun its phase two construction, which involves dredging and reclamation
for another eight berths and the construction of two new berths,
which will enable it to handle six million TEUs annually by early
2004. Sidik said
the port aimed to aggressively woo investors to its industrial free
zone park, set to be launched this year. PTP's growing competitiveness has prompted Singapore to overhaul its shipping strategy, including cutting handling fees and offering shipping lines the opportunity to run their own berths. |
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