Nimal Siripala pushes for more seagoing jobs

Ports, Shipping and Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva says that although Sri Lanka is an island nation the number of seafarers and people engaged in employment in the maritime sector by Lankans is less 0.1 percent.

Addressing the 56th Annual General Meeting of Ceylon Association of Shipping Agents in Colombo last Wednesday (14), the Minister said: “Sri Lanka being an island nation, we would have diverted young people of Sri Lanka towards Maritime employment opportunities. If you take Philippines, 10 percent of their foreign employment is in the Maritime field which draws large amount of foreign currency to Philippines.”

He said: Our Government and my Ministry has launched an ambitious program to train more seafarers and engineers, craftsman to be employed in the ships. I seek your assistance and also the shipowner’s assistance to absorb more cadets from Sri Lanka which would help us to train more youth in the maritime field and provide them with secure employment.

Sri Lanka moving its way into the top ranks of global sea ports by volume and growth, it is a joint effort of public bodies like SLPA and private organizations collaborating in order to bring international best practices to the industry. With the recent changes in policy, and through the collaboration of experts from both public and private sector bodies like CASA working on the existing issues together, there is a limitless potential for Sri Lanka to be a maritime hub in the region.

Given that 90% of the world trade is transported through oceans, the shipping field is a key factor in the growth of many country economies including Sri Lanka. With the international trade is increasing globally I am sure your role is crucial in the years to come. Considering the fact that Port of Colombo (POC) was ranked as the 15th connected Port, we invite the world shipping lines to consider more transshipment at POC. The cargo that is brought to POC can

be easily connected to the Indian Ports, Africa, Bangladesh, Maldives and Far East. Such service may also provide a competitive price for them. CASA could be the voice of being the brand ambassador in promoting the Port of Colombo as a Transshipment Hub and thereby contribute to the uplift of the growth.

Apart from port infrastructure we identify the need to develop our ancillary services to move forward in the concept of a hub. A successful hub port requires the full range of ancillary port and marine services at competitive prices in order to be attractive to mainline and feeder operators, casual callers and attracting vessels specifically for services even without cargo operations.”