Business Briefs

Stock Net live, Lanka On Line's real time stock market data system has been judged first runner up from among 16 participants at the Best Quality Software Awards organized by the British Computer Society in Sri Lanka. 

Stock Net Live is a stock market information system that delivers live information from the Colombo Stock Exchange to the user's desktop. Investors using Stock Net Live have access to bids, offers, trades, quantities, gainers and losers, graphs, indices and a host of other information which enables them to make informed, timely and accurate investment decisions, a company release said. 

Associated Battery selected 

An energy services delivery project to instal solar home systems in rural areas in Sri Lanka has been initiated by the World Bank resident mission. 

For this purpose Associated Battery Manufacturers (Ceylon) Ltd, the pioneer and leading local battery manufacturer was requested to send some of their 90 Ampere Hour (Ah) batteries produced at their factory at Ratmalana to Sandia National Laboratories which is operated for the U.S.Department of Energy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. 

This was for testing of the batteries to ascertain suitability of the locally manufactured battery for use in solar home systems to be installed under the Sri Lanka Energy Services Delivery Project. 

The project is to be funded by the World Bank through the DFCC Bank, a news release said.Associated Battery Manufacturers (Ceylon) Ltd have now been informed by Sandia National Laboratories that the 90 Ah battery produced by them has passed the certification test for the Sri Lanka Energy Services Delivery Project and that these batteries can be used in solar home systems to be installed under this project. 

TATA Safari is here 

The new TATA Safari, is a four-wheel drive sports utility vehicle with a turbo charged diesel engine. Dimo claims the Safari offers sophisticated buyers a vehicle that combines luxury, ruggedness and load carrying capacity imaginable in a car. 

With a G-76 gearbox the Safari is a fully automatic eight seater with front and rear air conditioning. With trision bar front springing and five-link coil-spring rear suspension is said to damp irregularities to an amazing degree. 

Business Diary

Nov. 9-11 Representatives of the Standards Institutions of the Indian Ocean Rim Association countries are scheduled to meet in Colombo for discussions on greater co-operation through harmonization and recognition in the fields of standardization, quality management, certification and laboratary accreditation. 

Among the areas identified at present for co-operation are trade facilitation, trade promotion and liberalization, promotion of foreign investment, scientific and technological exchanges, tourism, movement of natural persons and development of infrastructure and human resources. 

The current member countries of the Association are Australia, Madagascar, Singapore, Tanzania, Yeman, South Africa, Oman, Mauritius, Mozambique, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Kenya. 

Asian Congress of Architects 

Nov. 11-15 The Sri Lanka Institute of Architects will be hosting the above International Conference which is held once in two years in an Asian country from November10 to 15. The following sixteen South Asian countries will participate:China, Hongkong, Macau, Philippines, Singapore, Mongolia, Japan, Thailand, Pakistan, Malaysia, Korea, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka. 

Australia and Vietman will participate as observers. 

WORKSHOPS

Recognizing the need for awareness on corporate debt securities, the Colombo Stock Exchange has begun a series of educative seminars on corporate debt. The second in the series of corporate debt seminars in association with USAID is to be held tomorrow from 1.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. at the Taj Samudra Hotel. 

This year has seen an emergence of a corporate debt market with several listed corporates coming out with varied debt issues. The market has also witnessed these issuers introducing different features in structuring debt instruments. 

This is also at a time where a credit rating agency is to be set up shortly and CSE is amending its rules to list debt securities independent of an equity listing. 

• The topics for discussion for this workshop are: 
• Determination of Interest Rates 
• Analysis of Corporate Bonds 
• Management of Interest Rates through Debt Instruments 

The issuer perspective through the participation of an issuer of debt 

Several industry specialists have been included in the resource panel and will consists of: 

Hiran Mendis, Director General - Colombo Stock Exchange 
Manjula de Silva, General Manager - Eagle NDB Fund Management Company 
Dr. Lalith Samarakoon, Head of Finance & Accountancy - University of Sri Jayewardenepura. 
Mangala Boyagoda, Assistant General Manager - DFCC Bank. 
Ajith Fernando, Senior Vice President - Vanik Incorporation Ltd. 
Seth Issacs, Training Specialist - USAID. 

Financial Wizard of the Year 

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, in association with the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation is organizing the above Do-You-Know contest. The contest is open to the Alumni and students bodies of Universities and professional associations. 

The questions will be based on the general economy, domestic and global, the securities industry and the financial and banking sectors. 

A preliminary examination will be held to select 25 contestants who will take part in the semi-finals of the contest which will be televised nationally. 

The winner of each of the five semi-finals will be eligible to take part in the grand finals which will be televised. 

The prize money for the grand finals will be: 

1st Prize - Rs. 50,000 
2nd Prize - Rs 25,000 
3rd Prize - Rs 10,000 

The prize money for the semi finals will be: 

1st Prize - Rs 5000 
2nd Prize - Rs 3000 
3rd Prize - Rs 1000 

Professional organisations and universities are invited to nominate participants for the contest. Contestants will participate on an individual basis. Teams will not be permitted. 

Entry forms could be obtained from the SEC level 11, East Tower, World Trade Centre, Colombo 1. For details call Sanali on 331013 - Ext. 155. 

IMSL's Certificate Course  

The Institute of Management of Sri Lanka through its Programmes-Training and Development Committee, has organised a 30-hour certificate oriented course of studies in 'Investments'. 

This programme is to be conducted in the Sinhala medium and is aimed to attract small-medium scale entrepreneurs, retail and small-time investors and other general public who want to learn the best yielding forms or instruments available for investments. 

The organisers have also considered the best time to suit the prospective participants, and also undergraduates and registered students of the professional institutes. The exposures of all such participants to the new avenues for investments should bring lot of business to listed companies and stock brokers in the Colombo Stock Exchange. 

The Course of Studies and Discussions are conducted by academically qualified, professionally experienced managers who would guide participants with hand-outs and supplementary materials. 

The course director has also stipulated that those candidates with diligent participation, (i.e., attenance over 80%) and successful completion of course and assignment within a stipulated period would qualify to receive a certificate. 

The Course of Studies will be held every Sunday commencing November 29 and will come to end on Sunday December 27. 

Industrial Relations Forum

The notice sent to the employee notifying the holding of the Inquiry should include following. 

1. That is explanation to the show cause notice is unsatisfactory and unacceptable and therefore the management is holding an inquiry. 

2. The date time and place of the inquiry. 

3. Request the presence of the accused employee throughout the inquiry. 

4. If the management intends producing documents and productions at the inquiry against the accused, inform the employee to seek an appointment to examine such document or production. 

5. Inform the employee to nominate a defending officer or an observer (as the case may be) with particulars such as the name, position, address of such defending officer or observer and seek approval of the management for such nomination. 

6. Notify the names of witnesses and particulars of document the accused intends to produce at the inquiry and seek approval for them. 

7. The proposed action to be taken against the accused employee in case he fails to be present at the inquiry (i.e. to inform him that the inquiry will be held ex-parte.) 

Q2: I have a printing press with a workforce of 15 employees. Normally they work overtime on weekdays till about 10.00pm. The overtime is paid based on the number of hours declared by each employee in the overtime application form. Recently we detected an employee forwarding an application for overtime based on the false entry made in the overtime register. Although this employee had not been present at the workplace on 10 days during overtime hours, overtime has been claimed by entering time of departure as 10.00pm. In this manner he had claimed 50 hours of overtime and drawn the money. Is this charge adequate to dismiss him?  

Your employee has committed a serious act of dishonesty. Normally dishonesty is considered as a very serious offence justifying dismissal. In fact an employer may retain an employee who committed an act of misconduct such as disobedience or abuse but not an employee who committed an act of dishonesty. In Sri Lanka the Supreme Court has held that the dismissal of a worker having removed five or six ounces of tea without the employer's permission was justified (Glen Alphin Group vs. Lanka Estate Workers Union S.C 222-23/71). Similarly in the case of National Saving Bank vs. Ceylon Bank Employees Union (S.C.5-82) the Supreme Court held that the dismissal of a Bank Clerk who had some notes relating to the question paper in his possession while answering a question paper in a professional Banking examination was justified, as it was an act of dishonesty making him unfit to hold a post in a bank. Accordingly you can dismiss your employee if you have evidence to prove that he forwarded a false claim for overtime, claimed it and received that money from you. 

Q3: 1. What is incompetence of an employee according to the law?  
2. On what instances can you sack an employee for incompetence?  

Incompetence is lacking of the necessary skills to perform a job. However it is not considered as misconduct as decided in the case Ranjith Kumar vs. St. Anthony's Hardware Stores (C.A 1461/78) by the Court of Appeal. Therefore, you cannot dismiss an employee for incompetence, but you can go before the Commissioner of Labour and seek his approval for termination of services, under Termination of Employment Act of 1971. 

Q4: I am an employee attached to a private sector organization. The practice of this organization is to transfer the salaries of all the employees to a particular bank where we maintain our saving accounts. Then the Bank will credit the salaries to individual saving accounts. As I have taken a loan from another bank I requested my employer to transfer my loan installment to the bank where I have obtained the loan and the balance salary to the usual account. This request was turned down on the grounds that it will add more work to the salary clerk. I am not making a complaint but I wish to know whether the attitude of the employer is just and reasonable.  

The contractual obligation of the Employer is to pay your salary. The employer is not obliged to send your salary to a Bank nominated by you. 

Q5: 1. How many minimum hours should an employee work on a Saturday, to be entitled for his lieu leave?  

2. How many minimum hours should an employee work on a Sunday, to be entitled for half a day's lieu leave/full day's lieu leave?  

You have not stated the category of the employees. Only the employees covered by Shop & Office Employees' Act are entitled for Saturday (1/2 day) Sunday (full day). According to the Act any employee employed after 5 hours on a Saturday is entitled for a half a day lieu leave and if employed on a Sunday for a full day lieu leave irrespective of the number of hours involved. In addition they are entitled for OT at the normal rates for the hours they worked. 

Glitzy opening for Bangkok's Tea Centre

By Joyce Rainet

That's the message the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board delivered when he presided over the opening of the Ceylon Tea and Cultural Promotion Centre at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit's very stylish Living Room. 

And judging by the guests' rapt attention to what he had to say, tea may be in for a big revival - in Bangkok at least. 

But that's not the only news; Bangkok is to have its very own Sri Lanka Tea Centre, a gentle kind of get-together meeting place where you can gossip, sip tea and explore the country's cultural achievements. 

According to the Sri Lankan embassy's Information Counsellor, Rajka Jayatilake, Bangkok was chosen as the ideal location for the first tea centre because of the many-levelled ties that unite the two countries. 

"We are both predominantly Buddhist nations and we believe very much in holistic healing. If drinking tea can enable us live longer and remain in better health, I believe we should all choose it as our preferred beverage." 

The Ceylon Tea Promotion at the Living Room has other plusses guests will surely enjoy. With your cup of Dilman Tea you will be able to sample some of the delicious Sri Lankan sweets, like Mung Kavun made of mung beans, Thala Guli, Kokis and Kavun. 

And for those of you who are looking for a visit to beautiful Colombo, just drop off your name card in the Glass Box at The Living Room after you have enjoyed your cup of Dilman tea to try your luck at winning an exclusive five days/four nights tour to Sri Lanka or other prizes. 

The turnout for the opening of the Ceylon Tea Promotion was a glittering diplomatic and high society affair. Prominent among the guests were both the Indian and Russian ambassadors accompanied by their spouses and Kerry Fisher, wife of the Australian Ambassador. And a good cup of tea was enjoyed by all. 

(Bangkok Post)  

Hayleys and Siedles in alliance 

Following this agreement, products marketed by Siedles (under the Sony, Aiwa, Bose, Kelvinator and Casio brands) will be sold in the retail outlets of Hayleys Electronics (Retailing) Ltd., alongside the company's own products under the Philips, Daytron, Daewoo and Usha brands. 

To give effect to the proposed arrangement, Siedles (Pvt) Ltd., will make an investment in Hayleys Electronics (Retailing) Ltd., the retailing subsidiary of Hayleys Electronics Ltd. A spokesman for Hayleys Electronics said it is intended that the name of Hayleys Electronics (Retailing) will soon be changed to reflect its new position as a partnership between Hayleys Electronics and Siedles. 

Spokesmen for the two companies explained that the chain which currently consists of 13 outlets will be gradually expanded to cover all major towns in the country. With the alliance, this chain would offer the widest range of world renowned brands among consumer electronics retail chains in the country. 

They said consumers would also have access to in-house financing facilities and convenient and easily accessible after-sales-service. 

Turning an oilfield into a shipping pier

By Gan Mukhopadhyay

The property. north of the US Naval Shipyard there and adjacent to the Terminal Island freeway, was chosen in 1994 to accommodate the Pier A Container Terminal, a 170-acre state-of-the-art shipping facility. 

In November 1997 - 29 months after the July 1995 groundbreaking - the facility was complete. At a cost of $ 277 million, the port is the costliest and largest construction project in the history of the city of Long Beach. 

It's also a much-needed structure that boosts the port's efficiency to match that of the Asian ports that account for 80% of its business. The port - whose shipping traffic has more than doubled since 1991 - is expected to serve the area and its tenant, Korea-based Hanjin Shipping Co., well in to the 21st century. 

The challenges to complete the project on a fast track were overwhelming. They included the following: 

* Mitigate nearly 600,000 cu. yd. of contaminated soil in a 50-acre California-designated supervened area at the middle of the site. 
* Place nearly 3 million cu. yd. of new fill to build up to the finish grade. 
* Satisfy environmental concerns over off-shore disposal of contaminated dredged materials. 
* Simultaneously design and construct the project to meet an accelerated delivery schedule. 
* Meet seismic design requirements for a project site located near active fault zones. 
* Comply with the requirements of all the regulatory agencies involved. 

The port's own team designed the 3,560-feet-long wharf structure, and its project management group supervised the design of the backland infrastructure and construction of the project. 

Site History 

Nearly 70 years of industrial use preceded the Pier A project at its Cerritos Channel location. Originally marshland, the site was acquired by the Ford Motor Co., in the 1920s for a Model T car manufacturing plant. The plant was constructed on unreinforced 50 to 70 ft concrete piles. 

With the discovery of the Wilmington oil field in the 1930s, crude oil production began just to the east of the Ford facility. The area's environmental contamination began at this time, when numerous sumps for disposal of drilling fluids were created. In the mid-1940s, the Terminal Island Freeway was constructed along the site's western boundary. 

From 1951 to 1970, the oil field property was leased to a waste disposal company that operated a commercial disposal operation. Waste deposited at the site included oils, sludges, heavy metals, resins, alcohols, paints and organic wastes. 

The accumulation of these wastes, along with previous wastes from the oil-drilling operation, qualified the site for inclusion in the state's own superfund list, which differs from the EPA's national Superfunds grouping, in the late 1980s. 

Making matters worse, oil that has been removed from beneath the site caused the entire area, including the neighbouring Ford facility, to subside. Originally built to a surface elevation of +15 ft. on a mean lower low water (MLLW) sea level datum, it had subsided to an elevation of - 3 ft. MLLW by the 1970s. 

Specs for Pier A terminal, Long Beach, California

The terminal features 3,560 ft. of wharf, allowing three ships to berth simultaneously. Water depths along the docks dip to 50 ft. - deep enough for even the largest container ships with loads equal to 5,000 or more 20 ft. cargo containers.Loading and unloading are handled by six ship-to shore cranes, each with the ability to reach across post-Panamax vessels, i.e. vessels whose decks are wider than the Panama Canal. The cranes reach across 151 ft., or 18 rows of containers. 

The terminal has temporary storage space for more than 18,000 20 ft. cargo containers, with provision for 640 refrigerated containers (reefers). To maximize space, 144 reefers can be stacked four high and six across on platforms. 

A built-in staircase allows dock workers access to the elevated outlets and reefers. Long Beach is the first US port to use this reefer stacking system, which is already in use at many busy Asian ports. The terminal has an on-dock railyard with 31,000 ft. of track to handle two 8,.000-ft.-long stack trains at once. This allows cargo moving to or from markets east of the Rocky Mountains to be transferred from ship to train without affecting the nation's highways. 

GM 

AirLanka training centre wins a major first 

The AirLanka Centre for Training (ACT) provides a variety of programs ranging from airline courses through customer care to computer skills and management programs, not only for the airline's staff but also for external participants both in Sri Lanka and abroad. 

Its revenue generation of Rs. 2.5 million in the last financial year is testimony to the standards of professionalism it maintains and the recognition it receives in the field of airline training, says a news release. 

The contract with the Japanese academy is a singular honour for ACT, for not only does it signal recognition from a developed country, but also in a field so vital for airline operations that every airline's image hinges upon it, viz, inflight service. 

AirLanka's inflight department whose superior performance has obtained for the airline a name in gracious and hospitable inflight service will assist the AirLanka Centre for Training in this endeavour. 

Initially, a batch of 20 students will receive training with the possibility of 60 more following soon after. A 22-day program has been designed for the Japanese trainees who will receive instruction early next year. 

This program will bring the national carrier and the country several benefits. This project will earn revenue of over Rs. 1 million and the travel of these students on AirLanka will bring more revenue, all of which will earn foreign exchange for the country, says the airlines release. 

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