DIMO showcases Mercedes-Benz Centre

Uwe Beckmeyer and Ranjith Pandithage at the event 

Distinguished guests at DIMO 800 

Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany for Sri Lanka and Maldives 

Dr. Jürgen Morhard, Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake, Minister of Ports and Shipping Arjuna Ranatunga at the event

Sri Lanka welcomed German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy Parliamentary State Secretary Uwe Beckmeyer and his delegation comprising of over 30 heads of global businesses that hails from Germany at a grand event held at DIMO 800 recently. Beckmeyer met President Maithripala Sirisena at the Presidential residence. This visit is a follow up to the official visit of President Sirisena to Germany and symbolises the growing bilateral ties between the two countries. 

The two countries share some interesting facts on the history of Germany’s influence on business through the years in Sri Lanka. The first German firm to be established here was Freudenberg & Company in 1873 by Phillip Freudenberg. Initially, they exported coffee from Ceylon, as our country was known at that time. Gradually they ventured into banking, shipping and insurance. By 1876, the magnitude of German business was such that the German Empire appointed Freudenberg as the Counsel-General for Germany in Ceylon. 

With the advent of World War I in 1914, this company was closed down, along with many other German-based companies as ‘Enemy properties’. At that time, Freudenberg represented Robert Bosch, Adam Opel, Mercedes-Benz and Siemens-Schuckert to name a few. In 1918, after the war ended, they resumed business. In 1931, floods affected their establishment and F.K. Heller, an employee of Freudenberg, opened a new business called F.K. Heller & Company to represent German organisations. 

In 1932, Heller introduced what was considered the very first diesel trucks to Sri Lanka. In 1939, during the World War II, he was imprisoned as an enemy of the state and his company was closed down. Subsequently, four ambitious employees of Heller’s, Messrs Stephen Peries, Pandithage Don Alexander, Cyril Algama and Harold Algama, started their own company called Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC. 

After the war ended in 1946, Heller was granted Passport No. 1 under the Marshall Plan to prop-up German businesses in this part of the world. He travelled to Pakistan to start a company called Shahnawaz which still stands today as the Mercedes-Benz agent for the country. And in India, he established a company called Proteus to handle a number of German businesses. He returned to Sri Lanka in 1946 and with his four former employees, set out to introduce a wide range of German brands to the country. Heller is the de facto Godfather of German businesses in Sri Lanka.  German companies have a strong presence in Sri Lanka. The two integrated cement plants were supplied and commissioned by German companies KHD and Siemens. Short-wave radio stations were installed island-wide with German aid and Siemens technology. In 1958, when the bus companies were nationalised in Sri Lanka, Germany came forward to establish service facilities and consign Mercedes-Benz buses.  

This gave birth to the Ceylon-German training school in Sri Lanka to train our youth in various fields. It’s a very successful ongoing institute popularly known today as the German Tech in Sri Lanka. The German government with GIZ has recently initiated a similar project in the north of Sri Lanka. In the private sector, 25 years ago, DIMO established its own school with Mercedes-Benz for speciality vehicle engineering training which has been upgraded in the recent months to introduce mechatronics and new age vehicle technology.  There are many other organisations engaged in skills development as well. The delegation also paid a visit to one such organisation, Mercmarine. 

The Government, in their endeavour to develop the nation, has undertaken several ambitious programs such as the Megapolis Project. These include smart cities, Colombo Rapid Transit System and other advances in infrastructure, can tremendously benefit as in the past with the German technology in these projects. 

Sri Lanka is entering an exciting age of growth and infrastructure development. The proposed development of the Trincomalee Port would allow cruise ships to berth thereby gaining access in a short period of time to our cultural heritage sites of over 2,500 years, beautiful beaches and national parks.

 The German development bank, KFW are presently in Sri Lanka. The Fraunhofer organisation, one of the world’s largest technology and economic consultancy organisations, are here and are very keen to assist the Sri Lanka Government.

The event at DIMO 800 was organised by the German Embassy in Sri Lanka under the guidance of Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany for Sri Lanka and Maldives Dr. Jürgen Morhard. The highlight of the event was the participation of companies, who represent top German brands in Sri Lanka. DIMO represented more than 24 of these world class brand names from Germany which includes Mercedes-Benz, Siemens, Bosch, Osram, MTU, Zeiss, Bomag, and Schaefer, among many others.  

Dr. Jürgen Morhard, Uwe Beckmeyer, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce Director General Bernhard Steinruecke and Sri Lanka-Germany Business Council Vice President Ranjith Pandithage addressed the gathering. 

Speaker of the Parliament Karu Jayasuriya, Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake, Minister of Ports and Shipping Arjuna Ranatunga, Government dignitaries and heads of companies representing German brands were present at the event. 

DIMO was honoured to be a part of this high profile event which further enhanced the long-standing relationship between Sri Lanka and Germany.