Association of Container Transporter elects new team

Committee Members of The Association of Container Transporter (Seated from left): Nimal Ameresekere (Secretary General), Thusitha Jeewandara (Treasurer), Lakshman Seneviratne (Hon. Secretary), Roshan Manikwaduge (President), Upali Gunawardena (Immediate Past President) Channaka De Alwis (1st Vice President), W.K. Pushpakumara (2nd Vice President) and Chinthaka Athapattu (3rd Vice President)

Standing from left: H.D.R. Shantha, E.A. Pathmasiri, Kumara Perera, D. Samaranayake, Shenal Perera, M.G.H. Kavisha 

The 34th Annual General Meeting of the Association of Container Transporters was held recently with SLPA Chairman General (Rtd) Daya Ratnayake, as Chief Guest and Director General of Customs

Roshan Manikwaduge

Major General (Rtd) Ravipriya, as Guest of Honour along with dignitaries representing various related sectors together with representatives from all three terminals and ACT members in attendance. 

The membership of the Association unanimously elected Roshan Manikwaduge as the President for year 2020. 

Manikwaduge had been involved with ACT for over one-and-a-half decades. He had been an ardent advocate of members’ grievances on issues that impact them. He had played many key roles within ACT to made it more responsive to membership requirements and wellbeing. With the membership consisting of individual owners, medium and large scale operators; ACT is a formidable industry voice whose interests are aligned with that of its customers and stakeholders. Thus, the newly elected President’s mandate is to work with SLPA in addressing issues pertaining to the transport industry. 

He intends on starting a dialogue with Ministry and SLPA officials to lower the permit fees which had been arbitrarily increased significantly amidst objection of all port users. Manikwaduge hopes to roll out various membership services and awareness programs to actively serve its members, especially when they are in need of assistance or interventions when faced with issues. ACT is committed to serve its customers, the importers and exporters of this nation whilst striving to improve the service standards of its members. 

“I am very thankful to all members for having confidence in me by electing me as President. I also wish to state that I have served this Association as a member for the past 15 years and wish to attend to all grievances faced by our members from time to time,” he told the AGM.

“The Association has a history of 35 years with a membership consisting of small, medium and large players. The strength of our Association is that we always follow rules and ethics of our constitution. Our main objective is to serve the shipping and import-export industry by providing them with adequate container trucks to felicitate their requirements. As President my main objective is to negotiate with SLPA in bringing down the price of the Port Entry permit which was increased by 2000% in year 2015, which have created a huge impact on the Industries survival. We always believe in having a dialogue with our stakeholders to resolve issues,” the new ACT President Manikwaduge added.