Asia/Pacific News
Hambantota Bunker Sales Quintuple in Year to Date
Bunker sales at the Sri Lankan port of Hambantota have risen fivefold in the year so far compared to the same period of 2022.
Hambantota saw more than 500,000 mt of bunker sales in the first eight months of the year, five times the volume seen in the same period a year earlier, the Hambantota International Port Group said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
Hambantota's sales took up more than 80% of Sri Lanka's total in January to August.
"These numbers, which are proof that the port is moving towards the target status of an energy hub, were made possible owing to the aggressive proactive measures taken by HIPG to invest in the refurbishment of our tank farm facilities and upgrading them to Lloyds Standard specifications," Tissa Wickremasinghe, chief operating officer of Hambantota International Port Group, said in the statement.
" We have also introduced an independent ISO certified oil testing laboratory facility at the tank farm premises for the convenience of our partners.
"This lab facility provides Shipping Lines with the critical advantage of obtaining oil quality reports on a real-time basis.
"The laboratory, run by Intertek UK is the only such facility available in Sri Lanka."
After a lengthy and often troubled start to bunkering efforts at the port last decade, Chinese state energy company Sinopec began making wholesale deliveries of bunker fuel to Sri Lanka to supply the Hambantota market in March 2021.
