SLFFA holds 43rd Annual General Meeting

Seated (from left): SLFFA Manager Dishni Perera,  SLFFA Treasurer Shavindra Dias, Keynote Speaker Dr. Ravi Fernando, Chief Guest British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Andrew Patrick, SLFFA Chairman Channa Gunawardena,  SLFFA Vice Chairman Andre Fernando, and  SLFFA Secretary General Rohan Induruwa. Standing (from left): Navin Perera (GAC Logistics), Suharshini Welegama (Freight Links International), Sujan Malawana (Speedmark Transportation Lanka), Harshaka Lokugamage (DHL Global Forwarding Lanka), Nishan Jayawardena (Aitken Spence Cargo), M.F. Ibrahim (Famous Pacific Shipping Lanka), and Priyan Seilman (Scanwell Logistics)

The Sri Lanka Logistics and Freight Forwarders’ Association (SLFFA) held its 43rd Annual General Meeting on 24 September 2024 at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo. 

The Guest of Honour for the occasion was British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Andrew Patrick and the Keynote Speaker, Sustainability Ltd. Global Strategic Corporate Chairman/CEO Dr. Ravi Fernando.

Expelogix Ltd. Director/CEO Channa Gunawardena was re-elected for the second consecutive year as the Chairman for the period 2024/2025 whilst MAC Supply Chain Solutions Ltd. Managing Director and Andre Fernando, Foreway Logistics Ltd. Managing Director Shavindra Dias were re-elected as Vice Chairman and Treasurer respectively. 

The Executive Committee elected for the period 2024/2025 comprises of Aitken Spence Cargo Ltd., DHL Global Forwarding Lanka Ltd., Expolanka Freight Ltd., Famous Pacific Shipping Lanka Ltd., Freight Links International Ltd., GAC Logistics Ltd., Salota International Ltd., Scanwell Logistics Ltd., Shermans Logistics Ltd. and Speedmark Transportation Lanka Ltd. 

The Guest of Honour Andrew Patrick, in his address highlighted Sri Lanka’s remarkable progress and the significant development the country has undergone, using his recent visit to the Colombo Port as a testament to this transformation. 

While the Port still showcases remnants of British architecture and infrastructure, reflecting its colonial heritage, he noted that the majority of its facilities and operational systems have been upgraded and modernised. 

This blend of historic structures with modern advancements symbolises Sri Lanka’s journey of growth and its ability to preserve its past while embracing a future of innovation and development. Patrick’s observations underscored Sri Lanka’s strides towards becoming a key player in the global logistics and maritime industry.

Insights from Keynote Speaker Dr. Ravi Fernando

The Keynote Speaker Dr. Ravi Fernando during his address emphasised on the following topic, “Does Sri Lanka have an opportunity to leverage its geographic position as the fastest shipping route to Africa for Chinese exports?

Global container shipping capacity expanded 11% in 2024, recording its fastest growth in the past 15 years and is projected to end the year at 30.5 million TEU’s as per Neils Rasmussen, Chief Shipping analyst BIMCO. As over 80% of all global freight is shipped this is a significant increase. The 1st half of the year saw 264 ships with a capacity of 1.6 million TEU’s had been delivered to from shipyards world over.

Under China consolidates – in the backdrop of this buoyant growth, one needs to factor the changing geo-political landscape and the rise of China in terms of the nation with an Industrial output of $ 11.26 trillion, is close to 29% of the World’s total industrial output. In 2020, this was higher than the combined industrial output of USA, India, Japan, Germany, Brazil and Canada.

The geo-political landscape has been shaken significantly with the formation of BRICS and its expansion with BRICS plus where a significant number of African and Middle eastern nations have joined, including Ethiopia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iran. 

In addition, China advanced its One belt One road strategy which has consolidated its position in Africa and has access to key raw materials.

The Combination of BRICS Plus and OBOR one could project a significant increase in container shipments from China to Africa, exporting its technology and products where it occupies global leadership in the Solar, Wind, Storage batteries, Electric Rail, Electric vehicles. Thereafter from Africa to China, shipping Lithium, Graphite, Copper, Iron Ore, Titanium, Uranium, Zinc to bolster its industrial output. Chinas investment in Infrastructure in Africa touches almost every single African nation. 

Sri Lanka offers Chinese exports to Africa a unique advantage – the estimated shipping times via Sri Lanka offers Chinese container ships a significant advantage to both East Africa and South Africa of between 9 days and 8 days respectively. 

This fact needs to be communicated, and a significant investment needs to be made in terms of efficiency of handling container shipments versus Dubai and Singapore. 

We need to have a Sri Lanka Port development plan to ensure we are competitive not only in significantly lower shipping days, but combined with a world class container handling facility, we need to secure a bulk of shipments calling in on the two ports – Hambantota and Colombo. Here’s Sri Lanka’s opportunity to be the logistics hub to Africa.”

Chairman Channa Gunawardena has his say

The Chairman Channa Gunawardena in his speech stated that, “As we hold the SLFFA 43rd Annual General Meeting on the backdrop of an important political change subsequent to a peaceful presidential election. On behalf of our association he would like to congratulate President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on being elected as the 9th Executive President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. We earnestly look forward to working closely with his excellency and the subject experts towards the betterment of our industry in the coming months. 

The Global politics in the mean while posed new challenges to our industry especially the on-going Wars both in Middle East and in Ukraine. The volatility in the macro environment has become part and parcel of our industry over the last couple of years to an extent that we now are quite immune to such developments. 

Looking back at our engagements last 12 months, my team along with the subcommittees, continued to work towards achieving our goals in the respective areas. I will not go into details now since those are elaborated adequately in our annual report but would rather focus on what we intend to do in the future. 

Digitisation remains a very high priority for us and will continue our efforts in persuading authorities to expedite the timely implementation of all such initiatives from ASYHUB, National Single Window to Port and Airport Community Systems. We play a very active role in each of these committees entrusted with the task of implementation. Hopefully we will receive the necessary backing from the political hierarchy which is essential.

We will continue to lobby for the prevalence of free market forces, as opposed to a regulated industry since we believe that’s crucial if industry players are to effectively compete, and offer the best services to local and international clients. However, we will not endorse any unethical practices and will support the regulator in taking necessary steps to curb such behaviours. 

Today there is a lot of discussion about transhipment activities at the Colombo Port for FCL cargo and how it’s position within the Indian sub-Continent being threatened by the emergence of other Ports. However, we feel there is no adequate dialogue taking place focusing on harnessing our opportunities for handling of Multi Country Consolidation inside the Colombo Port which has a huge potential. The Port currently lack required level of infrastructure to attract new players and unfortunately, we don’t see any traction in the proposed private facility inside the Port which should have helped the cause immensely. We intend to actively engage with Sri Lanka Port Authority in this area since it has a very significant revenue generation potential for the country with benefits to our membership as well. This will be one of the main tasks of our ocean sub committee during the year. 

We believe there is tremendous potential for Colombo Airport to become an alternate Sea-Air and air -air hub for Dubai, especially during the peak season in Bangladesh. As you may know, some of our members are already actively involved in this area despite many operational challenges at the Airport. SLFFA has submitted our proposals to AASL highlighting the importance of ensuring these requirements are met with when the airport expansion project go ahead, and we are closely following up on the developments. 

Corruption may have been the most commonly used word both on the political stages as well as at logistics related forums as far as I can remember. Whilst we leave the politicians to “walk the talk”, I humbly request each of our members to play an active role in upholding ethical practices. As you are already aware, the Anti-Corruption Act No. 9 of 2023 which was certified on 8 August, paves the way for reporting of corrupt practices with necessary protection for Whistle blowers. Also, recently the Sri Lanka Customs have launched an internal affairs unit with aim of curbing such activities. I believe it’s our duty to support such initiatives as a progressive association and my team will arrange necessary awareness sessions in coming months to educate the membership more on this. 

In the area of capacity development, AITT continue to play a very vital role in ensuring our future logisticians are equipped with up to date learnings. We just concluded our certificate awarding ceremony for 91 participants and we are evaluating the possibility of taking AITT to overseas markets in the region along with IATA. There is great potential in neighbouring countries such as India and Maldives. 

In the research and development front, we are engaging the World Bank officials to better understand mechanism as to how Sri Lanka’s LPI ranking is judged. We feel the current ranking does not correctly reflect the actual situation and these engagements will help to take corrective measures if any. 

Beside those, we are in the process of revamping our Articles of Association to suite the current requirements of the industry and this will be presented to the membership for adaptation in due course. 

The standard trading conditions are another area of focus and we are in the process of revamping this with the assistance of an eminent legal professional. 

Today we face many challenges in our debt recovery process from customers and often our members are at the receiving end. Having realised this, we are currently discussing possibilities of incorporating an arbitration clause to our standard trading conditions which will provide a viable alternate to legal proceedings in the event of a bad or prolong debt. We will educate you further on this in the near future. 

Making necessary adjustments to freight forwarder liability insurance policy, is another area of focus and the committee has already put forward the draft for necessary input from the membership and I kindly request all of you to help us in this regard by giving your valuable input.

National Logistics Awards, which is one of our flagship events will be held in October this year as you are already aware and we have seen a significant growth in the number of participants this year. Our intention as at now to hold this event every other year. 

Let me conclude my speech by announcing a very interesting arrangement which we have finalised with Qatar airways which will immensely benefit our members when they travel overseas. This partnership allows all SLFFA member companies to get a discount of 12 – 15% on Economy class and 20% on business class for their travel to UK, Europe, Americas and Africa. 

The great thing about this program is that these year around discounts are applicable for both you and your family. Of course, this is subject to terms and conditions which will be circulated by our secretariat in coming weeks. I must thank Sujan Malawana for spear heading the negotiations and appreciate the support of Niral Kadawatharatchie in finalising the arrangement. 

In signing off, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the committee, sub-committees, SLFFA members and stakeholders. Without your support, we would not have been able to achieve all that. As we enter into a new year, SLFFA remains committed towards performing our role as the apex body that leads and guides the industry into the future.” 

Amongst the guests were officials from related Government Agencies, several Industry bodies/ Associations, Past Chairmen of the Association and delegates of member companies.