The Executive Committee of Ceylon Association of Shipping Agents (CASA) toured the Hambantota International Port (HIP) last week.  The visit was to strengthen relations between CASA and HIP, foster collaboration, and explore future opportunities the port held for Sri Lanka’s shipping and logistics sector.

The high powered delegation included Shano Sabar, Chairman of CASA; Janesh Ratnadasa, Vice Chairman; Mushin Kitchilan, Treasurer; Ralph Anandappa, Secretary General, Nimal Chandrasiri, Ex-Co Member; Lohitha Hettiarachchi, Committee Chairperson - Container Operations; Sumedha Perera - Committee Chairperson - Container Operations; Shane De Alwis - Committee Chairperson – PRP; Priyanga Wijeweera - Committee Chairperson - Finance and Tariff; Nirmal Dissanayake - Vice Chairman - Container Operations and Sunera Wijesekara - Treasurer YoungShip Sri Lanka & Vice Chairman for Membership Activities.

The CASA Executive Committee was met by the management team of Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) and Hambantota International Port Services (HIPS), headed by the CEO of HIPG Johnson Liu, and Capt. Ravi Jayawickreme, CEO of HIPS.  A presentation outlining the port’s current progress, industrial park activities, refinery project in collaboration with Sinopec and anticipated business growth was made to the visiting delegates by Bindu Ranasinghe, Commercial and Marketing Deputy General Manager of HIPG.

Speaking at the meeting, CEO of HIPG, Johnson Liu stressed on the importance of establishing proper policies in the shipping sector so that Sri Lanka as a whole could attract new business into the country.  He also pointed out how HIP’s container services could be complementary to the Colombo Port in terms of retaining volumes in the country, especially given the new container volumes generated due to the Red Sea calamity.

The Chairman of CASA expressed his appreciation of the port’s developments, including the commencement of container services.  He also commended the port management for their projections for the port and steps put in place to achieve a 20 percent year on year growth in the next 5 years.