Ceylon Shipping Corporation earns over US $ 21 million | Page 2 | Sunday Observer

Ceylon Shipping Corporation earns over US $ 21 million

2 October, 2022
W.S. Weeraman
W.S. Weeraman

The Ceylon Shipping Corporation (CSC), a State-Owned Enterprise, has earned over USD 21 million by using two Sri Lankan ships to carry merchandise in international waters.

Corporation Chairman W.S. Weeraman said that the two ships owned by the CSC have been leased to Singapore’s Wallem Shipping, who act as Commercial Managers.

They were appointed via a government tender procedure to use the two ships for international merchandise charters.

“We have provided the two ships, ‘Ceylon Breeze’ and ‘Ceylon Princess’ with Sri Lankan crew for charters of merchandise which yields us rental in dollars,” he said.

Another advantage is that the Singaporean company also pays for fuelling of the two ships. “Due to this operation the Corporation has made an operational profit of Rs. 1 billion so far.”

He said that the two ships built in China were purchased in 2016 at a cost of around USD 70 million. Around 40% of this loan has been settled. “Since we have to service the debt for the ship some of the profits goes back to pay it.”

The Chairman said that during the off-season the two ships are reverted back to Colombo and they engage in a national service shipping coal to the Lakvijaya Power Plant.

He said that during the Covid-19 pandemic many ship owners sold their ships which were not sailing for scrap. This created a huge vacuum in the ship transport sector which led to shipment delays and high freight rates. “For the Shipping Corporation this has become an opportunity as we leased out the ships.”

Outlining his future plans, he said that they are now closely following tourism sector development and hope to launch their own cruise ship as they see tremendous opportunity in this segment.

The Ceylon Shipping Corporation plans to operate a Container Feeder Service between Colombo and Bangladesh and this will be followed by a second service between Colombo and Oman.

He said that the maritime industry is a key economic driver for Sri Lanka as it yields income in dollars and hence emphasis should be placed on developing this industry.

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