Building Hambantota port now is “debatable” says expert
View(s):By Sunimalee Dias
An international shipping expert and academic has found it “debatable” as to whether it’s the right time to construct a new port–, referring to the country’s Hambantota port, due to market instability.
“Whether it’s the right time is very debatable as the lead time is five or eight years but in the meantime we have had the worst shipping market caused by the world recession and consequently markets have collapsed,” Bruce Ogilvy, International Vice President of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (UK) said in an interview last week in Colombo with the Business Times.
Pic at the awards ceremony by Athula Devapriya
Mr. Ogilvy arrived in the country on invitation from the ICS in Sri Lanka for their annual awards ceremony where was the chief guest.
He observed that if the markets proved to be good when the Hambantota port started then it would have been good however, today it would be hard to convince major companies to actually start using the port as a container port.
Commenting on the prospects of the new port, Mr. Ogilvy said it would be able to cater to the largest containers in the world but noted the government would have to take an effort to ensure adequate education and training was provided for those entering the sector.
He explained that in a bid to establish a hub status in the country it was important to concentrate on these two areas in shipping as this would prove beneficial in competing with their counterparts in Singapore, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
With the markets “disastrous” due to very low freight levels in all sectors it was pointed out that ship’s assets have declined resulting in a number of ship owners facing issues. This is mainly due to ship mortgages taking a different stance since banks have now begun to realign the value of ships in terms of today’s markets, Mr. Ogilvy explained.
However, the expert noted that there was a interesting development this time despite the market downturn, that ship owners were not slashing their education and training budget.
In this regard, he stated that they have observed a positive trend lately from all parts of the globe in terms of the 2012 examinations conducted by the ICS with just 2000 students across the world and four and a half examination papers.
“Sri Lanka also has a slow but steady rise for qualified shipping students,” he said.
Currently Sri Lanka has been performing “extremely well” he commented adding that there were 140 students that sat for 261 papers with the pass rate on the rise.
At present, 16 locals have obtained ICS membership; he said adding that the qualification obtained is equivalent to a degree. The course is conducted for 3-4 years, which has 7-8 modules and it allows students with the opportunity to specialise on where their expertise lies, he explained.
Speaking about the curriculum, he said since two years they had introduced offshore exploration as a subject adding that all studies were available online providing ease of study for those at sea.
The professional qualification from the ICS course of study would ensure they gain the necessary expertise that would be beneficial “not only for the company but also students and members of the staff,” he explained.
The annual awards ceremony of the Sri Lanka Branch was held on February 15 to felicitate the successful candidates of the international examination conducted by the ICS UK.
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