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HNB launches Subasiri personal loan scheme

In today's social environment there are many situations in which people need to take a loan, quickly and urgently, without the formalities involved in a conventional bank loan. Hatton National 'Subasiri' is designed to meet this need.

The scheme has been tailored to provide maximum convenience to the borrower.

No formal security is required, the applicant has to be a professional or a permanent employee of a reputed organisation acceptable to the bank, with a monthly income of Rupees 15,000 nett, or more.

The applicant is required to submit a letter from the employer stating the monthly salary payable to the applicant.

In the case of a professional, a similar document as proof of the required monthly income will be necessary. The loan is available for almost any personal need, the purchase of an article, or any other urgent personal need, acceptable to the bank.

The repayment is in convenient monthly installments and works out to Rupees 38 per thousand, inclusive of loan, interest, BTT and defence levy.

A very important benefit from the point of view of the borrower is that the interest will be calculated on the reducing balance. The interest itself is a attractive 19 per cent.

With HNB's branch network comprising over 104 branches, the bank expects the 'Subasiri' Personal Loan Scheme to be a great convenience to the public.

New corporate image for MEC

The Malaysia Electrical Corporation held its Dealers Convention 2000 in Kuala Lumpur recently.

The restructuring of MEC under the Pengurusan Danaharta Act 1998 saw a new group of investors led by Fiamma Holdings Bhd.

This new group took over all assets related to the previous caretaker, MEC, including six factories in Kuantan, through a special purpose vehicle — the Sunrise Stream Sdn Bhd. MEC controlling body is the Kuala Lumpur Industries Holdings Bhd..

The ownership of MEC Dagang still remains under Khazanah National Bhd and the Anggun Permai Industries Sdn Bhd, which began operations in October last year.

The sole agents for MEC products in Sri Lanka is Access International (Pvt) Ltd.

Sri Lankan photographer honoured

The postal authority of the Republic of Suriname — SURIPOST — issued a set of 12 beautiful, triangular postage stamps under the theme — 'Tropical Fruits of Sri Lanka', photographed by the renowned photographer G D Vijayadasa (ANPA-FNAPS). The photographs were commissioned by M Fazal Kamaldeen, Manager of International Philatelic Agencies, Great Britain, UK, on behalf of the Republic of Suriname.

Vijayadasa of Wijaya Colorfoto, Colombo 4, has actively promoted the image of Sri Lanka abroad, and this remains the only instance where a foreign country has utilised photographs taken by a Sri Lankan photographer.

HP launches new line-up

Hewlett Packard launched its exciting new product line-up recently.

The launch, announced by Business manager for Sri Lanka HP Singapore Sales Pte Ltd, Mike Tan and Colin Chow, Country Manager Commercial Channel Organisation Emerging Countries.

HP's authorised wholesaler, Precision Tech Services (Pvt) Ltd., authorised Corporate Resellers, Bartleet Electronics Limited, Business Solution Systems Pvt Ltd and Trident Corporation Pte Ltd., were also present at the launch event.

Lagena commences commercial operations

Lagena Media (Pvt) Ltd., the latest addition to the local advertising production house industry, specialising in video production, commenced its commercial operations recently.

The company's offices are located in Rajagiriya. "It's an ideal location for our kind of business, as the environment around us is calm and quiet," said the Managing Director, Lakshman Prematilake, who is an operator/tele-producer.

The company is a joint venture collaboration with Germany, and is a BOI approved venture. In addition to the local market, Lagena hopes to enter Europe as well.

The firm possesses the first ever avid innovation meridian board for editing in Sri Lanka. The company offers a wide range of video products and services, viz-a-viz still and moving slides, creation and development of TV commercials for client and advertising agencies, filming and televising of commercial productions, film location services, tele-drama and documentary production and hiring of camera, lighting ad other equipment as well.

Shipping and Aviation

SLPA hiring 'astonishing' — World Bank

By Gunapala Ranasinghe

Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), which runs the island's port, has been hiring new staff at an astonishing rate despite being hugely overstaffed and inefficient, a new World Bank report on Sri Lanka's economy revealed.

"The SLPA, which has consistently suffered from excessive personnel, has been recruiting new workers at a rate of 100 per month over the last two years at a time when the Colombo Port is faced with greater competition from other ports in the region," the report said.

The present cadre of workers in the SLPA is around 19,000, with most of them deployed in Colombo Port.

Public sector institutions such as the SLPA are in need of 'fundamental reforms,' the report said, adding that there was a need to restructure the SLPA while retaining government ownership.

The privatisation of the Jaye Container Terminal, Colombo's main transhipment facility, has remained blocked for lack of support within the SLPA, it said.

Delmege Distributors hold annual conference

Delmege Distributors (Pvt) Limited, formerly the Consumer Marketing Division of Delmege Forsythe & Co. Ltd., held its first Annual Sales Conference at the Hotel Taj Samudra recently.

This conference was attended by suppliers, regional distributors and members of Delmege Distributors. Some of the outstanding work of the sales team was on display including area maps and books, which had been prepared with much effort.

The Annual Awards ceremony held at the Crystal Ballroom recognised long-standing services rendered by regional distributors and the exceptional performances of the sales teams.

The Chairman of Delmege Forsythe & Co. Ltd., F G N Mendis presented service awards to Sri Lanka Stores, Negombo, National Stores, Kulyapitiya and U R Rodrigo & Sons, Wadduwa for exceeding 20 years of service.

Wijeya Marketing Services, Battaramulla, Sheri-fdeen & Co, Matale, Prematilleke Stores, Horana and Weerasinghe Brothers, Kadawatha were recognised for service over 15 years. There awards were presented by C N S Mendis, Director.

Chula de Silva, Director, Delmege Forsythe & Co. Ltd, handed over the award to S Raja Mohan for Outstanding Sales of Delmege Colouring and Essences in 1999/2000.

The prestigious Chairman's Trophy, awarded to the Best Sales Representative for the year 1999/2000 was won by T J C Rubera, whilst the Runner Up was K I J Chaminda.

Other outstanding performances in the field of sales were also recognised and a total of 23 awards were distributed.

The awards preceded a fellowship and dinner.

Ceremony marks signing of new container services in Shanghai

A ceremony in April this year marked three new service routes by mainline operators — COSCON, Yang Ming Line and "K" Line. The three new service routes, Asia/East Coast USA/Mediterranean and Mediterranean/US East Coast, were started from April, 2000.

The ceremony saw the participation of President of COSCON, XU, Vice President of Yang Ming Lie, Shieh and Masayuki Nakayama, former managing Director and present Corporate Auditor of "K" Line.

The participating executives outlined the new service's focus on developing the Chinese market in particular and highlighted features of the newly opened services and improvement of their service portfolio with growing cooperation among the three lines.

The fact that COSCON, a state enterprise, was earnestly encouraging PR demonstrates that the new concept of marketism and free competition is being actively introduced into the Chinese economy.

European trucking prospers from lack of Italian capacity

The Mediterranean is surrounded by bustling economies, but air cargo capacity in some areas is scarce

A lack of sufficient air cargo capacity out of Italy means much of the country's freight is trucked to the main European hubs of London, Luxembourg, Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and Paris, says Glauco Martinelli, President of GSA Air Transportation Consultants, based in Milan.

But, despite this excess of demand for cargo space, competition between airlines for market share ensures that rates are kept competitive, he adds.

ATC claims to be the largest and longest-established GSA in Italy, having been set up on January 1, 1978, with Air Canada as its sole principal. ATC now has a presence in both Milan and Rome and a cargo centre in Florence.

Martinelli explains that there are two separate companies, with ATC representing China Airlines, Air Canada, Gulf Air and Ethiopian Airlines, and ADP (Air Freight and Data Processing) representing Asiana Airlines, British Midland, China Southern, Royal Air Maroc, SriLankan Airlines and Turkish Airlines.

A third company, called Airline Logistics, is based at both Malpensa airport Milan and Fiumicino in Rome. This operation, while not physically handling freight, offers "document handling, arrivals certification — all the activities which are normally done by the airline people. We have quite a few airlines, including Delta Airlines, Air France and Swissair," says Martinelli.

Despite this abundance of airline representation, "we don't have sufficient facilities in Italy to accept all the freight going out of the country and we don't have sufficient freighter services into Italy to satisfy the demand," he adds.

"Therefore, there is a lot of trucking to be done by all carriers, not just by us as a GSA. Every single individual carrier, like Swissair or Air France or British Airways, trucks a lot out of Italy to their own hubs. Even when there are on-line services, capacity is not enough, and whatever is left over once the planes are full has to be trucked elsewhere."

Nevertheless, "rates are quite competitive here," he continues, "simply because practically every single carrier is here in Italy...Every carrier tries to get as big as possible share of the market, therefore there is competition around the corner every time — it is a tough country to work in."

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