Monday, 5 August 2013 00:27
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Sri Lankan conglomerate responsible for management and operation of Fiji Ports Corporation
Aitken Spence, the Sri Lankan global maritime logistics company, last week took over the managerial and operational responsibilities at Fiji Ports Corporation.
As part of a Private-Public Partnership (PPP), which was signed by the respective parties earlier this year, Aitken Spence will be in charge of both the Suvas Kings and Lautoka ports, Fiji’s largest wharves, according to the Fiji Times.
Aitken Spence has invested $10.53 million in buying 51% of the shares of Ports Terminal.
Speaking during the official ceremony at Suvas Kings Wharf, Chairman Dr. Parakrama Dissanayake said through the partnership they would manage the operation and management of both Kings and Lautoka wharves.
Dr. Dissanayake said they would bring in best global practices and transform Fiji’s shipping sector as one of the best in the South Pacific.
Aitken Spence will take control of the daily business of the Fiji Ports Corporation for a 15-year period.
At the ceremony, the Attorney General and Minister for Public Enterprises Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum raised the vision of Fiji being a new Singapore if workers joined employers and Government in a collaborative effort to improve Fiji’s overall economic position.
The Minister urged workers at the ports to see the partnership as the dawn of a new era in which they could personally contribute to making Fiji’s ports more efficient and improve their own conditions and skills sets.
Aitken Spence has said that it is aiming to create more jobs by making the ports more efficient and increasing the volume of trade through Fiji with larger ships and quicker turnaround times. At present, international shipping companies are either bypassing Fiji because of slow turnaround times or charging heavy levies and surcharges that are passed on to every Fijian consumer.
The AG said a better performance on the wharves would lead to the removal of these extra costs and every Fijian would benefit through lower prices for imported goods.
“We have a wonderful opportunity to position Fiji in a practical sense as a truly geographical hub in the South Pacific. We are also positioning ourselves as an exporting country, whether it is for agricultural products or manufactured goods. We will be able to make our exports a lot more attractive because of the reduction of shipping costs and the increase in volume,” he said.
The AG said shipping companies already had confidence that Aitken Spence and its Fijian workers at PTL would be able to raise performance on the wharves and expand business in the region. Aitken Spence had been operating for 130 years, was a Fortune 200 company outside the United States and had a respected maritime school that also offered opportunities for Fijian workers.
“We are very much privileged to have them as a partner and the they are also privileged to have the Fijian Government as a partner because it provides them with the footprint to expand their business in this part of the world,” he said.
