Continental Shipping Lines pioneers Colombo-Yangon feeder service

From left: SLPA Managing Director H.D.A.S. Premachandra, Harbour Master Capt. Ravi Jayawickrama, Acting Chief Operations Manager I.K. Gnaanathilaka,  Senior Manager Marketing and Business Development Chitral Jayawardhane, SAR Maritime Agencies Managing Director Raju Radha, Director Ashwini Radha and General Manager  B.S. Dole 

Continental Shipping Line Ltd., (CSL) last week began a feeder service connecting Colombo directly with Yangon for the first time and subsequently Chennai with the arrival of the Mv. ‘Pathein Star’ of 1468 TEU capacity. 

The vessel is also able to accommodate small parcels of break bulk cargoes. 

“This service will boost the volumes handling in the port of Colombo and will also serve the main line operators with a speedy connection via Colombo to Europe/East Coast of India,” a spokesman for CSL said.

Continental Shipping Line Ltd. is the largest private ship owning company and also owns a container terminal in close proximity to Yangon which is now the base of CSL’s operations. 

The growth of CSL since it was founded in 2013 with two ships has been meteoric. The company’s growth is backed by the rapid expansion of trade that Myanmar has been enjoying in recent times. The company is also involved in international ship management of commercial vessels and also focusing on crewing. The company’s fleet strength as at date stands at 21 vessels which are deployed in feeder operations in South East Asia.

The company’s vision is to be a world class ship management organisation and leading feeder operator in South East Asia. 

CSL is represented in Sri Lanka by SAR Maritime Agencies Ltd. whose management and staff have a wealth of experience in feeder and other maritime operations.

Spokesman for SAR Maritime Agencies said that Yangon was the only port which was not previously connected to Colombo for transhipment cargo and the recent Government 10% rebate given by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority will assist main line vessels to call port of Colombo. “This rebate and incentive were long overdue,” he said welcoming the move.