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Sri Lanka Navy News

21 Dec 2022

Many Dead Among at Least 100 Rohingya Stranded on Boat off India's coast, Activists Report

For Illustration - Credit: Amnesty International

At least 100 ethnic Rohingya are stranded in a boat off India's Andaman Islands and as many as 16-20 may have have died of thirst, hunger or drowned, said two Myanmar Rohingya activist groups. Each year many Rohingya, members of a Muslim minority, risk their lives boarding rickety vessels to escape violence in Myanmar and squalor in Bangladesh refugee camps. Many attempt to reach Malaysia. The stranded boat was approached by five Indian ships late on Tuesday, a source told Reuters.

09 Sep 2020

List: Major Oil Spills from Ships

The Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, March 23, 1989 spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil. (Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)

The Sri Lankan navy said on Tuesday an oil slick had been spotted a kilometer from a loaded supertanker carrying roughly 2 million barrels of oil that has been engulfed in intermittent fires since an explosion on September 3.Oil from the engine room of the 20-year old New Diamond tanker “appears to have leaked out to the sea” following regular bouts of water-dousing by fire-fighting vessels, the navy spokesman said.The oil slick has raised concerns about the potential of further leakage from the cargo holds…

08 Sep 2020

Oil Slick Spotted Near Fire-stricken Tanker

(Credit: Sri Lanka Navy)

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

04 Sep 2020

No Real Danger of Oil Spill from Burning Oil Tanker, Sri Lanka Navy Says

Credit: Sri Lanka Navy

There is no real risk of a spill from a fully loaded supertanker that caught fire off the east coast of Sri Lanka, a senior official in the Indian Ocean nation's navy said on Friday.The fire that broke out in the engine room of the New Diamond on Thursday morning had spread to the bridge of the ship, carrying about 2 million barrels of oil, though it has not reached the cargo area, the Sri Lankan navy said.Director-General of Operations Rear-Admiral Y N Jayarathna told reporters it was the navy’s view that there was no real danger of a spill…

02 Jul 2018

Sri Lanka Shifts Naval base to China-controlled Port City

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

14 Apr 2017

Fire Hit MSC Daniela Docked at Colombo

MSC Daniela is docked at Colombo port, Colombo International Container Terminal, ten days after a blaze broke out in the aft section of the 13,800 teu, local media reported. No further information was provided. Earlier, Ceylon Today reported that  the Maritime Rescue Coordinating Centre (MRCC) Colombo, had received a fire distress call from the local agent of 'MSC Daniela' as the vessel was 120 nautical miles off the Port of Colombo, on Tuesday (April 04). The Panama flagged container ship was sailing from Singapore to Egypt and the fire broke out in the vessel while outside the Colombo Port. Colombo was not meant to be a port of call for the ill-fated vessel, but Colombo, soon was to be a matter of necessity and not a matter of choice.

28 Mar 2016

Sri Lankan Minister Visits Goa Shipyard

Sri Lanka's Minister of State for Defence Ruwan Wijewardene  visited the Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) at the Vasco town, located around 40 kms from Panaji in India and inspected Sri Lankan ships under construction, the Press Trust of India reported. He inspected the progress of the two Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessels (AOPV) being built for Sri Lanka Navy at Goa Shipyards. Wijewardene held discussion with GSL Chairman and Managing Rear Admiral Shekhar Mital  along with the shipyard officials on the progress of the ship building process. They also visited an almost completed similar type AOPV being built for the Indian Coast Guard to see the facilities and equipment fitted on board. The first AOPV is scheduled to join the SLN fleet in August 2017 and the second one year after.

25 Jan 2016

Colombo Port Boosts Volumes

The Chinese-built Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT), which opened for business in 2014, has made significant gains in container handling last year surpassing 1.5 million TEUs, according to local media. The Terminal has set a record in 2015 with handling 1.561 million TEUs representing 1.57 percent increase over the year before and 67 percent of this volume is from ULCC (Ultra Large Container Carrier) and VLCC (Very large Container Carrier) segments. CICT is the first and currently the only deep water terminal in South Asia equipped with facilities to handle the largest vessels afloat. "The CICT-run “South Terminal” is making the right kind of waves, raking it in for Colombo port like never before and transforming Sri Lanka into a regional shipping hub," say local newspapers.

27 May 2009

Tsavliris Salvage Assist M/T Granba

On Tuesday 7th April, at 1900 hours, Tsavliris Salvage (International) Ltd. dispatched salvage tug Tsavliris Unity from her Galle (Sri Lanka) salvage station, to the assistance of the M/T Granba (GRT 4658 – DWT 7650) laden with about 5,250 M/T of sulphuric acid in bulk, disabled off Trincomalee due to heavy list and leaking from cargo tanks to ballast tanks. Our salvage team, together with substantial salvage, STS operations etc equipment, including special protective suits / masks, was flown from Greece and Holland to Sri Lanka.

10 Feb 2004

Feature: The ISPS Code

John Riding, director of Marico Marine, speaking at Ship Repair & Conversion in London, presents a rosy picture for the future of ship repair by pointing out that freight rates have not been so high for years and some owners, such as bulk carrier operators are enjoying a rare opportunity to seriously invest in maintenance. The busy state of building yards means that "keeping an older vessel in service longer has great commercial attraction," said Riding. He believes that some repair yards have the potential to make a return for the first time in a long time. However, there is a fly in the ointment in the form of the ISPS Code. The code as has implementation date of July 2004 and applies to all passenger ships…

21 Feb 2001

Sri Lankan Navy Sinks Rebel Boats

The Sri Lanka navy sank two Tamil rebel boats in a pre-dawn skirmish on Wednesday in waters off the country's northern Jaffna peninsula, military officials said. They said a navy patrol ran into a cargo convoy of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) near Jaffna's Point Pedro harbor. "Two of the boats blew up and sank when the navy opened fire, a clear indication that they were transporting explosives," a military spokesman. He said two other rebel craft were also badly damaged, but he could not confirm whether they had sunk. He did say however, that the navy patrol had returned to port without any casualties or damage. The LTTE…

02 Aug 2006

Sri Lanka Navy Thwarts Attack on Passenger Ship

Sri Lanka Navy thwarted Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam militant attacks and saved the lives of 854 unarmed soldiers, who traveled from Kankesanthurai to Trincomalee in a passenger vessel on August 1. According to report Sri Lanka Naval sea unit confronted a cluster of LTTE suicide boats at the harbor entrance of Trincomalee. Naval sources confirmed that the passenger vessel has been navigated to a distance safely into the international waters and no casualties were caused during the confrontation. Three boats carrying the LTTE militants were destroyed in the attack. Several other LTTE boats were also damaged. The number of casualties due to the artillery attack at the Trincomalee harbor area is yet to be known.