Hayleys buys Sri Lanka shipping bunkering arm
Hayleys PLC recently bought Sri Lanka Shipping Company’s bunkering arm Lanka Maritime Services Ltd (LMTS) in a strategic takeover, Hayleys officials said.
“Hayleys wants to control its logistics while being a supplier of bunkering services (Bunkering is a process of transferring oil, sludge or cargo to and from ship) to the region,” an official told the Business Times, adding that Hayleys is roping in a Sigaporean partner due to arrive this month to run their new company’s operations.
LMST owns a fleet of tankers to transport bunkering products from the Gulf and Singapore and owns and operates three coastal tankers for delivery of bunkers, lubricants, freshwater, etc. LMST is a major physical bunker supplier for three ports – Colombo, Galle and Trincomalee along with South Asia and Middle East.
According to the Hayleys official a deal will be struck with the Singaporean partner in a bid to strengthen the business in related areas such as bagging operations, projects cargo/heavy lift haulage, warehousing, etc.
LMST was taken over by Hayleys along with its staff of 12.
There are eight licensed bunkering companies in Sri Lanka but the market is currently dominated by three players; Lanka Marine Services, Indian Oil Corporation’s Sri Lankan subsidiary, Lanka IOC, and LMST. According to industry data, all own about the same market share.
Sri Lanka imports all its petroleum requirements including for bunkers a total of around 4.8 million metric tonnes per year.
Because of their location, Colombo and some other Sri Lankan ports have the potential to be major bunker ports on the main shipping route between the Middle East and Far East.