Evergreen holds Regional Trade and Agency Meeting in Colombo

Evergreen Line of Taiwan, one of the mega container carriers in the world, conducted the all-important Regional Trade & Agency Meeting in Colombo for the first time of its 24 years of operations in Sri Lanka.

The meeting was chaired by the Chairperson of Evergreen Marine Singapore Molly Mok and was conducted by the President Adam Lee. Delegates from 17 countries including Indian Subcontinent, West Asia, Egypt, East Africa, South East Asia and Top Evergreen Officials from Singapore and Taiwan arrived in Colombo to attend the two-day meeting.

The purpose of the two-day event was to discuss, analyse and look into various opportunities to enhance the businesses of evergreen especially in the regions extending from ISC, West Asia and East Africa and long hauls between Asia and Europe and to  introduce new services in view of Evergreen’s ambitious Fleet expansion program. Evergreen has placed the order for 100 brand new ships including charter of 13,000 TEU capacity vessels and it was made known at the meeting that 45 ships are to be delivered within the next two years of which seven ships have already been taken delivery.

Evergreen Principals at the meeting emphasised that their focus in the Indian sub Continent will be greatly enhanced in the coming years and for this purpose it is pivotal to develop Colombo as the main hub port to cater to the growing trade in the region.

Evergreen is happy about the current infrastructure development, conducive business environment, vessel turn around speed, growth in the market share of trans shipment and export volumes out of Colombo. They stated that more importantly the prevalent peace in the country drew them to hold the regional meeting in Colombo.

Under Evergreen’s future strategy it is envisaged to come stronger to the global market with a capacity enhancement of 25% by the year 2015. In order to gain the maximum benefit of the enhanced activities Evergreen requires the agents and all offices in the region to increase their skills in order that the trade derives a lot of benefits through Evergreen’s enhanced activities in Colombo and the region as a whole.

Representing the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Upul Jayatissa, Chief Manager/Marketing and Business Development, made a very informative presentation outlining the current development program underway for ports in Sri Lanka which will facilitate all leading shipping lines to ensure smooth operation of mega ships in Colombo.

The occasion was graced by the presence of two Vice Group Chairmen, Bronson Shieh and Raymond Lin from Evergreen Head Office in Taipei, who in their concluding remarks imparted with valuable advice and emphasis on forward march of Evergreen Line in the coming years.

They also visited all the terminals in Colombo including the mega terminals under construction in the Colombo South Harbour.

Chairperson Norma Nanayakkara and Capt. Gamini Nanayakkara on behalf of Greenlanka Shipping Ltd. conveyed their sincere appreciation to their Principals Evergreen Marine Corporation for selecting Colombo as its venue to hold the Regional Trade and Agency Meeting and thanked all the foreign delegates who took time to take part in the meeting, whilst Kushani Nanayakkara and Prashan Nanayakkara gave the required momentum locally towards the successful conference.