Shippers Council Chief calls for national maritime policy

Sri Lanka Shippers Council (SLSC) Chairman Sean Van Dort ​

The need for a national maritime policy was emphasised by Sri Lanka Shippers Council (SLSC) Chairman Sean Van Dort at its 45th Annual General Meeting held recently.

“During the last decade we have been talking about a maritime policy, maritime authority, maritime hub, etc. However, nothing of the sort had reached finality. Sri Lanka is a nation surrounded by the sea, geographically located along world shipping routes. The maritime shipping service sector can play an extremely vital role in harnessing the logistic advantage in a competitive manner to develop a socialist competitive market economy benefitting the people of this country,” he said.

“We are of the view that the recent declaration of the Maritime week to be held during 21-27 September 2015 is a clear indication that this important logistic advantage is well appearing in the radar of the Government,” the SLSC Chief said at the AGM.

“Therefore, we sincerely believe the Minister of Finance being the custodian of the fiscal regime can provide guidance in shaping up the shipping policy as well for the advancement of economic prosperity in the country and we are eagerly awaiting for further reforms in this sector,” Van Dort added. 

Following are excerpts from his speech at the AGM at which Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake was scheduled to be the Chief Guest but didn’t make it due to unavoidable circumstances:

As you may be aware the Sri Lanka Shippers’ Council was established in 1966 and is the apex body of 13 associations representing a wide spectrum of shippers in this country engaged in almost all business activities. By far we are the single organisation representing the exporters and importers of this country together with relevant service providers such as freight forwarders.

It is my privilege to welcome all of you for this august assembly in which we celebrate 49 years of our existence.

Sri Lanka Shippers’ Council has extensively engaged in public private partnership dialogues in order to bring about a reform agenda for the benefit of importers and exporters of this country by creating a conducive environment on a market friendly basis. It has never been an easy task and there have been continuous deliberations in the stakeholders particularly the Government in bringing about these changes.

We are extremely thankful to the Finance Minister for giving directions through the Investment Facilitation meetings to ensure the completion of the electronic documentation system for imports within a period of six months. In fact, you went to the level of covering all details and giving direction to ensure that electronic signage which was an issue will be permitted through due legal process and because of this initiative, Sri Lanka would be the first in this part of the world to engage in import export documentation electronically. 

The long term vision of this initiative is that we can ensure that by the time goods leave this country it will be reflected in the other country’s customs computer automatically and vice versa. It will be a long journey, but we are extremely thankful that the process that we created is being continued uninterrupted with guided directions of the Finance Minister.

The most prominent 24/7 facilitation measure reflects the timely intervention by the Government to address the needs of the hour. Industry also has a responsibility to ensure utilisation of this relief by adjusting themselves. The mechanism shall be in place to address the problems, if any, creep up by the system itself rather than seeking intervention. When the electronic documentation system is ready the 24/7 clearance system will augur well the different time zones of countries within which we engage in trading activities. 

The landmark legislation that was brought about in 2013, where directions were given that in the international carriage of goods, all costs from origin to destination has to be borne by party who is offering the contract to the service provider, has been upheld as a matter of principle internationally not only by the Global Shippers’ Forum but by the UNCTAD as well. 

I will be failing in my duty if I do not recall Minister Karunanayake’s great involvement in this process. In 2001 when Karunanayake was the Minister in charge of Trade, having understood the predicament of the shippers in this country, tried his best to bring about the regulations to control anti-competitive behaviour; in fact he followed the footsteps of the late Lalith Athulathmudali who did not allow room for any unethical behaviour in the maritime industry.

12 years later when this regulation was introduced in Parliament as a budget proposal, the Finance Minister had the capacity and the consciousness while being in the opposition to acknowledge the fact that this proposal was in the interest of the country. He upheld the principle that was driven in 2001, in 2013 as well. This is more valuable, because Karunanayake is in that business, which was brought under the regulatory mechanism and we salute him for the stance taken. 

In fact, I need to emphasise that the same old fear psychosis was made by the parties with vested interests in 2013 as well, that if we bring about this regulation the ships will not call over, that international buyers will not look at Sri Lanka favourably and could be a space crunch out of our ports, etc., in order to protect their interests. It is needless to say that all those arguments have been disproved and we are continuing to grow.

We like to assure the Finance Minister that we will continue to engage in this dialogue in order to ensure that this market based principle in this industry is adhered to. This market friendly behaviour that was commended by the Minister himself has brought about a definite cost reduction in our day to day operations without any affect either on the port income or on the legitimate income of the service provider because all-inclusive cost now covers all charges from origin to destination. Additionally, even delivery order fees are now being negotiated and agreed by stakeholders with the mediation of the Government authorities. 

It is with great pride that I wish to report that the Sri Lanka Shippers’ Council, a member of the Global Shippers’ Forum will be celebrating its 50 years of existence by simultaneously hosting a Global Shippers’ Forum in Sri Lanka. At the last Annual General Meeting of the Global Shippers’ Forum held in Toronto, Sri Lanka was awarded the honour to host the next Global Shippers’ Forum at the request of the Sri Lanka Shippers’ Council which would be a land mark event in the history of the shipping industry in Sri Lanka.

It is pertinent to note that the Global Shippers’ Forum will be preceded by the first ever International Conference on Maritime Trade and Sectoral Development which will be held towards the end of this year. It will illustrate to the world that the Indian Sub-Continent will play a key role in trade and maritime activities and Sri Lanka is ready to service the demand. All these efforts are focussed towards the logistic advantage we enjoy and reap the benefits of an international maritime nation.

During the last decade we have been talking about a maritime policy, maritime authority, maritime hub, etc. However, nothing of the sort had reached finality. Sri Lanka is a nation surrounded by the sea, geographically located along world shipping routes. The maritime shipping service sector can play an extremely vital role in harnessing the logistic advantage in a competitive manner to develop a socialist competitive market economy benefitting the people of this country. We are of the view that the recent declaration of the Maritime week to be held during 21-27 September 2015, is a clear indication that this important logistic advantage is well appearing in the radar of the Government.

Therefore, we sincerely believe you as the Minister of Finance being the custodian of the fiscal regime can provide guidance in shaping up the shipping policy as well for the advancement of economic prosperity in the country and we are eagerly awaiting further reforms in this sector. 

SLSC Executive Committee