Hambantota News

Two commercial ships that diverted their course in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden were connected to the same maritime group whose vessel was seized by Yemen's Houthis, according to shipping data and British maritime security company Ambrey.Israel on Sunday said the Houthis had seized a British-owned, Japanese-operated cargo ship in the southern Red Sea, describing the incident as an "Iranian act of terrorism" with consequences for international maritime security.The Houthis, an ally of Tehran…

A Chinese military survey ship that docked at Sri Lanka's Chinese-built port of Hambantota despite opposition from neighboring India left on Monday after a week-long stay, the port company told Reuters.Analysts say the Yuan Wang 5 is among a group of Chinese ships that monitor satellite, rocket and intercontinental ballistic missile launches. India, Sri Lanka's northern neighbor, fears China could use the port as a military base.Sri Lanka, facing its worst economic crisis in decades and in need of financial support from both China and India, had delayed the ship's arrival after India raised its concerns but gave in to Chinese demands later.The ship has now left the southern Sri Lankan port…

The Chinese survey vessel Yuan Wang 5 docked on Tuesday at Sri Lanka's Chinese-built port of Hambantota, a port official said, a move likely to stoke concern in neighboring India about the growing influence of its bigger and more powerful rival.The movements of the ship have fuelled contention between India and China, two of Sri Lanka's biggest allies in its current economic crisis, as India fears China could use the port, near the main Asia-Europe shipping route, as a military base."The vessel will be berthed for three days," the official, who declined to be identified as he was not authorized to speak to the media, told Reuters from the southern port."The purpose of staying at the port is to stock up on fuel…

Sri Lanka said on Saturday it has agreed that the Chinese survey vessel Yuan Wang 5 can dock at its southernmost port, the Chinese-run Hambantota on August 16, despite security concerns raised by neighboring India and the United States.Foreign security analysts describe the Yuan Wang 5 as one of China's latest generation space-tracking ships, used to monitor satellite, rocket and intercontinental ballistic missile launches.Both China and India have tried to expand their influence in Sri Lanka, which is facing its worst economic crisis in its post-independence history.India has provided more help to Sri Lanka this year than any other nation.

Sri Lanka's navy said on Tuesday that an oil slick had been spotted a kilometer from a loaded supertanker off the country's east coast, as efforts to extinguish a fire on board continued.Sri Lankan officials are working to assess any damage to the environment and marine life from the incident, which began on September 3, when a fire initially broke out in the engine room of the New Diamond supertanker.The first fire aboard the ship, which was chartered by Indian Oil Corp to import some 2 million barrels of oil from Kuwait, was put out, but a second one broke out on Monday."The ship has tilted

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec ), China's first large-scale production of greener low-sulfur marine fuel oil (LSFO), announced the production capability of 10 million and 15 million tons of low-sulfur marine fuel oil in 2020 and 2023.The Beijing-based Chinese oil and gas enterprise said in a press release that by January 1, 2020, Zhoushan and other China major ports will be fully covered with Sinopec product availability, and more than 50 key overseas ports, including Singapore, will be covered with Sinopec supply ability.The commitment will contribute 600,000 tons of sulfur oxide emissions reduction, equivalent to shutting…

China and Myanmar are moving ahead with a China-backed deep-sea port project in Kyauk Phyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) , 250 miles northwest of Yangon.The framework agreement was signed by Myanmar's Deputy Minister of Planning and Finance and Chairperson of the Management Committee of the Kyaukphyu SEZ U Set Aung and President of CITIC Group Chang Zhenming, stated Chinese state media.This is the third port in India’s vicinity. China is also developing deepwater strategic Gwadar port in Pakistan in the Arabian Sea which faces the Mumbai coast. It has also acquired Sri Lanka's Hambantota port on debt swap in the Indian Ocean. It is also…

Sri Lanka is shifting a naval base to a port built and controlled by China, it said on Monday, a move that will strengthen security at a harbor that foreign powers fear China could use for military purposes.The base currently in the tourist district of Galle will be moved 125 km (80 miles) east along Sri Lanka's southern coast to Hambantota, nearer a main shipping route between Asia and Europe.The $1.5 billion deepwater port is likely to play a major role in China's "Belt and Road" initiative and is under a 99-year lease to China Merchants Port Holdings at a cost of $1.12 billion.Government and diplomatic sources have told Reuters that the United States, India and Japan have raised concerns that China might use the port as a naval base.The Sri Lankan government and Chinese embassy in Colom

China Merchants Port Holdings (CM Port) has invested the final tranche of USD 584.2 million in Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port after acquiring an 85 percent stake in the port last year. The cheque to the effect was handed over to the Chairman of Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) – Dr.Parakrama Dissanayake by the Chief Representative of China Merchant Group in Sri Lanka - Mr.Ray Ren in the presence of senior port officials and representatives of CM Port. This makes the single highest ever Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) received by Sri Lanka to date. This third final tranche in the amount of US $ 584,194,800 follows the 1st, a 2nd tranches released in December last year and January 2018, in amounts US $ 292 million and US $ 97 million.

China Merchants Port Holdings has made a $584 million payment as part of a $1.12 billion deal to operate Sri Lanka's deep sea Hambantota port, a state-run agency said on Wednesday.Under the deal, signed in July 2017, China Merchants Port (CM Port) will run the $1.5 billion Chinese-built port on a 99-year lease. The $1.12 billion total price is to be used to reduce the Sri Lankan government's debt to China."With this payment, CM Port fulfils the $976 million investment ... CM Port has agreed to deposit a further sum of $146 million being investment to be utilized for port and marine-related activities," the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) said in a statement.The port is near the main shipping route from Asia to Europe and likely to play a major role in China's "Belt and Road" initiative.

Sri Lanka's state-run investment body has approved a $500 million liquefied natural gas plant by China Machinery Engineering Corp near a Chinese-controlled port and industrial zone, the development strategies minister said on Friday.The state-run Board of Investment has approved investment projects worth $1 billion in the first quarter, Malik Samarawickrama said, the largest of which was the LNG project in Hambantota, where China Merchants Port Holdings controls a Chinese-built port on a 99-year lease.The port, which is leased for $1.12 billion, is near the main shipping route from Asia to Europe and likely to play a major role in China’s "belt and road" initiativeChinese control of Hambantota…

Sri Lanka’s government on Saturday signed a long-delayed agreement to sell a 70% stake in a USD 1.5-billion port to China in a bid to recover from the heavy burden of repaying a Chinese loan obtained to build the facility, report local media. After 10 years of negotiations, China Merchants Port Holdings has signed the agreement with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority to develop the Hambantota Port in southern Sri Lanka. According to the agreement, which is described as "a win-win situation for both countries". the Chinese firm will run the workings of the newly constructed port over a 99-year lease. The Port of Hambantota is located on the…

With the aim to dominate maritime industry China has been acquiring overseas ports with huge investments which crossed USD 20 bln last year, Financial Times reported. Beijing has spent billions expanding its ports network to secure sea lanes and establish itself as a maritime power, says the report. China is aggressively pushing its  “One Belt One Road”, a grand scheme to win diplomatic allies and open markets in around 65 countries between Asia and Europe. It is pushing ahead with plans to open new shipping routes through the Arctic circle, the report said. The report quoted a study by Grisons Peak, a London-based investment bank, found that Chinese companies have announced plans to buy or invest in nine overseas ports in the year to June in projects valued at a total of $20.1bn.

Sri Lanka has rejected China's request to dock one of its submarines in Colombo this month, two senior government officials said on Thursday as the Indian prime minister landed in the island nation. Sri Lanka last allowed a Chinese submarine to dock in the capital of Colombo in October 2014, a move that triggered fierce opposition from its northern neighbour India, which worries about growing Chinese activity in a country it has long viewed as part of its area of influence. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Sri Lanka on Thursday for a two-day official visit. A senior Sri Lankan government official said China's request to dock one of its submarines in Colombo this month had been rejected.

Pacific Partnership 2017 made its initial mission stop in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, March 7, with the arrival of Military Sealift Command expeditionary fast transport USNS Fall River (T-EPF 4). This marked the first mission to Sri Lanka in the 12-year history of the annual civil-military operation, and the Pacific Partnership mission in Sri Lanka continues through March 18 and will make follow-on mission stops in Malaysia and Vietnam. Pacific Partnership is the largest annual multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Asia-Pacific, and aims to enhance regional coordination in areas such as medical readiness and preparedness for man-made and natural disasters.

Sri Lanka will take part in a joint venture with China Merchants Port Holdings Company Limited to develop a port in its south, where China has also been offered an investment zone. The cabinet approved a plan under which Sri Lanka will lease 80 percent of the Hambantota port to Hong Kong-based China Merchants Port Holdings Company for 99 years for $1.12 billion, a government document showed on Wednesday. China Merchants Port Holdings Company will make a $5 million payment as a security deposit upon signing the agreement, which the government expects to do on Jan. The company will pay 10 percent of the $1.12 billion within one month, and the remaining 90 percent within six months of signing the transaction documents.

Lloyd’s Register (LR), world’s leading engineering, technical and business services organization announced today that it has been appointed by LAUGFS Gas PLC (LAUGFS) to handle key safety and quality checks of the LPG terminal at Hambantota Port, some 240kms away from Sri Lanka’s capital city, Colombo. The contract is valued at GBP500,000. “A valued long-term business partner, LR has been meeting maritime needs of Sri Lanka since 1945. In 2015, we announced plans to build and operate a world class LPG terminal at Hambantota Port. After carefully evaluating different vendors’ proposals, we found LR’s benchmark assurance and advisory services to be a sound value proposition that had clear competitive advantages,” said Mr. W.K.H. Wegapitiya, Chairman of LAUGFS Holding.

A fully-fledged cruise terminal is to be set up at Colombo port given the increasing number of calls by cruise vessels, according to Lakdas Panagoda, chairman of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). The SLPA plans to convert the Bandaranaike Quay (BQ) of Colombo port into a “fully-fledged international cruise terminal,” Panagoda said. This was one of the initiatives taken by the SLPA during the new administration in the past six months, he said. Cruise lines revived calls at Sri Lankan ports like Colombo after the end of the island’s 30-year ethnic war in 2009. The number of cruise vessels calling at the island’s ports is increasing but the lack of a dedicated cruise ship terminal is seen by the travel trade as a drawback.

Fuel bunkering under the Magampura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port will commence operations by June 15, Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Chairman Priyath Bandu Wickrama said. "Bunkering operations will start by June 15 at the newly built fuel bunkering terminal at Magampura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port," Wickrama said. "The terminal, which will provide fuel for ships, has been constructed at a cost of US $95 million in line with the Magampura Port development project. According to the chairman, all facilities have been tested for fuel bunkering and the first shipment of fuel for bunkering will be received in the first week of June. An oil tank farm with 14 tanks with an investment of US $ 76 is also constructed at the Hambantota Port.

GAC Sri Lanka has been appointed as the sole authorised agent for multimodal transport operator Sarjak Container lines Pvt (Ltd), handling all their shipping and Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier (NVOCC) activities in the country. Sarjak specialises in the door-to-door transportation of breakbulk and over dimensioned cargo (ODC) operating a fleet of self-owned containers including Super Racks, Flat Racks, Open Top, Hard Top Open Top & GP containers. As Sarjak’s appointed agent…

Chinese President Xi Jinping began a visit to Sri Lanka on Tuesday agreeing to open bilateral negotiations for a free trade pact as Beijing tightened its embrace of the island nation along a vital shipping route. Sri Lanka, located just off the southern tip of India, has long had close ties with New Delhi, but China has stepped up its diplomacy in recent years, building ports and roads across the region in a strategy dubbed the String of Pearls. China and Sri Lanka completed a feasibility study in March on a free trade agreement, which is expected to give a boost to the island's top exports of tea and garments. Xi will also inaugurate a $1.5 billion project, the largest single direct foreign investment, to build a port city on reclaimed land in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.

Two of China's largest port operators and engineering firms have agreed to invest in a $601 million terminal in Sri Lanka's Hambantota port, part of a series of deals signed during a visit by President Xi Jinping to the island nation. Keen to establish its presence in the Indian Ocean, China has spent millions of dollars building ports and roads across the region in a strategy dubbed the String of Pearls. China Merchants Holdings said in a statement late on Tuesday that it and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Group , had entered a joint venture with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority to develop and operate a container terminal for the Hambantota Port Development.

As the demand for ship supply services off the island of Sri Lanka grows, so too has GAC Sri Lanka. The company has moved into new, bigger premises at Galle and Trincomaleeand opened a new branch in Hambantota to accommodate increased maritime activities and better meet its customers' needs. excellent base for offshore ship supply services. Demand for such services is set to grow as the government opens up more areas for oil and gas exploration. The call for more LPG imports and exports of clean products in the Indian Subcontinent has also resulted in a rise in the demand for ship-to-ship transfer services. "Furthermore, there has been an increase in the movement of security personnel at Galle due to growing concerns about sea crime in the Indian Ocean.