Sri Lanka Could "Join the Ranks with Singapore and the UAE"

Sri Lanka's flag.

ClassNK Chairman and President Noboru Ueda has said that Sri Lanka could "join the ranks with Singapore and the UAE as a leader in the maritime world", according to local media reports following the Port, Trade and Logistics Conference and Exhibition in Colombo earlier in the month.

"If Sri Lanka can succeed as a new maritime nation, which I believe it can, then with Dubai and Singapore, we will have three new maritime stars in the region," he said.

The report noted Sri Lanka was in a 'strategic' location, but also needed to invest in order to achieve its goals.

"Like Singapore and Dubai before it, Sri Lanka is making the right investments for the future and looking to partners overseas to achieve success," said Ueda.

The country is seeking much external investment for its development, with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) recently saying it was looking for another $1 billion of investment for its Hambantota Port, and $15 billion for its 'port city' project in the country's main port of Colombo.

Ship & Bunker reported last week that operations at the 82,000 metric tonne (mt) capacity bunker terminal in Hambantota port are set to commence in October 2012, and that the bunkering operation is the only part of the port that is not open to that external investment.

A report by World Bunkering last year said that Colombo and other Sri Lankan ports have the potential to be major bunker ports on the shipping route between the Middle East and Far East but Colombo was unable to compete with Singapore in the past because of its higher bunkering costs from lack of competition.

Lanka IOC managing director K.R. Suresh Kumar said at the time, "SLPA could earn revenue by leasing the bunker fuel storage tanks to the private sector which can do the marketing and selling."

"It is not necessary for the entire marketing of bunkers to be handled by the SLPA, by allowing more players, the business can expand," he added.