Hambantota Port News

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…

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.

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 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…

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sri Lanka's new pounds Sterling 226 million deep sea port at Magampura harbor, Hambantota, on the south coast of the island has been officially opened with the ceremonial docking of the first vessel to use the port facilities. In a ceremony presided over by President Mahinda Rajapaksa as part of the week-long festivities surrounding his official inauguration for his second term in office, a traditional sailing yacht, Pradeepa 2, dropped anchor in Hambantota's Magampura harbor. She received a traditionally warm and colorful Sri Lankan welcome from the huge crowds gathered on the waterfront and quaysides. Pradeepa 2 was chosen in recognition of Sri Lanka's age old role as a key stopping point on the ancient east-west silk trading route.