Millers charters vessel to ship brewery for large scale expansion

Saturday, 25 February 2012 00:57 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Millers Brewery Limited, a subsidiary of Cargills (Ceylon) PLC (member of CT Holding) which took over the renowned McCallum Brewery with its popular ‘3 Coins’ and ‘Sando’ brands has commenced the transformation of its brewery located in Meegoda. The upgrading of the facility for with an investment of over Rs. 2 billion is being made would build its brewing capacity to meet the entire demand of the local beer market making it the only local brewery that brews its entire range in Sri Lanka.

While MBL faces numerous challenges, the most immediate one is the logistical adventure that is to take place in transporting the newly arrived brewery. The shipment consisting of various brewing equipment arrived at the Port of Colombo on a specially chartered vessel MV Geisel Scan recently. The largest of the equipment is 15 meters in height with a diameter of 5 meters.

MBL Project Manager Lalith Chandrasiri said two special trailers have been specially designed for the inland transportation of the shipment. Commenting on the complicated logistic arrangements, Chandrasiri, said, “The road leading to Meegoda where the brewery is has many low-hanging telecom and electricity wires. So we have liaised with the CEB and SLT to support us through the transportation which would take place in the night. We have also constructed a low-bed trailer which is 50 ft in length with rare steering to take sharp corners. The trailers would be travelling with special police escort with the authorisation of all relevant authorities.”

The transportation exercise would take place largely in the night and is estimated to take approximately 12 days to complete.

The equipment once commissioned would take MBL’s full capacity to 700,000 hl per annum with the ability to meet the growing demand for its range of local beers brewed since 1963 using only pristine natural water from Meegoda.