Missing the bus for the second time

It is just a few weeks back that I read media articles on the official launch of the Emma Maersk, the world’s largest container carrying ship with a capacity of 13,000+ TEU’s. Sadly this ship cannot enter the port of Colombo while we boast about our hub status.

This reminds me that around a decade ago, we in the shipping field were talking and doing presentations of Regina Maersk which was the largest ship at that time with 6000+ TEU capacity and how it could not enter the port of Colombo, as we could not again provide a safe passage to the ship due to lack of dredging and therefore the basin was not deep enough at the port to accommodate such vessels.

During this same period of time, in theory , on paper and on political platforms, Sri Lanka was building the highest number of ports in a single country, namely, Oluvil, Hambantota, Galle and Trincomalee, to handle various types of ships. Colombo was neglected; ignoring its paramount requirements and thereby gradually taking away its status as one of the leading ports in the region while it was the most profitable government institution. At one time it was ranked the 21st port in the world in terms of volumes handled, thanks to the courageous decision taken by the then Minister Lalith Athlathmudali who developed and increased the capacity of Colombo port to become the 21st from a rank of 134 in the seventies.

Interestingly while we were building ports during the last decade or so in books and theory, countries like Dubai, Oman, Malaysia and even India took the initiative to actively drive forward and build new ports which are now very well established and are way ahead of Colombo in terms of technology and capacity.

As a result Colombo is no more listed by international magazines on their top 30 ports. So where have we failed? In my opinion very clearly lack of focus and vision from most politicians who have ruled the country, if I am not mistaken the Shipping Ministry has been under different portfolios to satisfy political needs of the governing party and we have had over seven ministers and countless number of officials for the last decade to drive the maritime policies and to compete in the global market as a maritime hub. For those who do not know of a maritime hub I humbly request you to look at Singapore and Dubai and what they offer as real hub ports to attract global players.

To go back to recent history, the port of Colombo had to be ready for 6000+TEU ships by 1996. But it never happened!! Oluvil was the next hub followed by Hambantota and a beautiful book was printed called the “National Ports and Shipping Policy of Sri Lanka” in 1997. We in the industry still don’t know what happened to these policies which were re-visited by many committees as governments changed again and again. Ironically this was the very same year that we could not get a fully loaded Regina Maersk into the port of Colombo.

After a lot of debate and noise from the industry players in 2001, just before the airport debacle, the new minister at that time Ronnie De Mel, was briefed by 12 dedicated industry players, led by former customs chief H.B Dissanayake, together with industry associations on the need to prioritize a list of burning issues, to get things moving once again for the port of Colombo, and to restore its status. I myself was in the committee appointed to give the report to the minister and within three months of the report, things started happening and immediate action was taken to dredge the port after a lapse of eight years.

This was the paramount need at that time among a list of items. I am grateful to those who sat with us and took the initiative and the political will to get moving to achieve the current status of the port, where we can accommodate 6000+ TEU vessels. The report also highlighted that the Colombo South Harbour project should be started by 2003-2004 as a matter of priority and first berths to be ready by 2007-2008 to accommodate Emma Maersk. That has now become a dream, because we do not have consistent policies.

During the last 3-4 years we have slowly dropped off Oluvil and Galle as international ports and made them regional ports...but continue to talk of Hambantota and Colombo South Port!!What I say is, even at this very late stage the reality has come forward at an enormous cost to the nation and at the end of the day people have paid for it and will pay some more in the future.

Talking of Hambantota, do I agree? Yes I do. But this should not be a container port at this moment of time and in my opinion it had become a political port rather than a serious exercise by policy makers during the last decade.

Why I say is that at each election, political parties go to the south and brag about another major international port for transshipment in Hambantota. They all have been deceiving the poor of our country and that’s all that has happened. There is enough scope for Hambantota to become an industrial port provided we have the business plan and the resources to do it. But the priority at this moment in my personal opinion is to expand the capacity of the port of Colombo which many in the trade have agreed and I believe the policy makers too are in agreement.

This cannot be done without going ahead with the proposed south harbour project as even if we expand the current port of Colombo’s On-dock yard capacity by moving out and setting dry ports inland-ICT (which is another necessity). We simply cannot dredge the current Colombo basin beyond this point as the current berthing peers will collapse with further dredging.

So to get 18 meters of depth and to handle increasing regional traffic we have to build a new harbour basin and expand capacity by providing the necessary facilities to new generation ships.

Therefore, at a time when the president and Sri Lanka’s major political parties are now working for a common agenda and economic well being of the country, I humbly request the President, the Minster and the leader of the opposition and the authorities not to miss the bus again to re-establish Colombo as a real global hub. It is good to hear the recent developments that the government is now pursuing new avenues to go ahead to build the south harbour with the support of donor agencies and the private sector. I only hope that by the time we start and finish the project, we would not have missed the bus for the second time!

What ever the professionals say, and what ever the donor countries pledge, if the political will is not there in a country like Sri Lanka these mega projects will never happen. This is sad, but it is the reality. The business community and the people have to take the blame for what happened in the past in this industry. NO ONE ELSE!!