Rohaan recaps insights to Sri Lanka’s maritime past and present

Lanka Rani

Ceylon Lines

Lanka Devi

“Ceylon Shipping Lines Ltd. (CSL) was started in the mid-1950s as a joint venture PPP between the Government, Norwegian interests and local shareholders. CSL owned the first two vessels in recent recorded history in Sri Lanka, MV Attanagallle (hometown of the then Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike) and MV Chilaw (hometown of the then Minister of Commerce Hugh Fernando),” said Rohaan J. Abeywickrema, delivering a paper titled ‘Maritime Past and Present of Sri Lanka’ to the Maritime Law Association of Sri Lanka at the Bar Association Auditorium recently.

“CSL dominated the government shipping business by handing all imports of rice, flour, sugar, fertiliser etc., at that time. Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike wanted to start a State-owned shipping company and instructed the then Minister of Commerce and Trade R.G. Senanayake to take the necessary steps,” Abeywickrema said.

“However, if this initiative had been successful, CSL would have lost its core business. With the assassination of Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, the initiative for a national line ended, and CSL managed to safeguard its business,” added Abeywickrema. 

“It is not a coincidence at all that two accused of the murder of Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, Wimala Wijewardhana and Ven. Buddharakkitha were both Board Members of CSL. Ven. Buddharakkitha was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment and later died in prison,” Abeywickrema further said in a stunning disclosure.

Sri Lanka Shipping Co. Ltd., owned by Robert Senanayake the second son of first Prime Minister of Sri Lanka D.S. Senanayake and the younger brother of Dudley Senanayake, who was the Prime Minister later, also bought and operated vessels, showing the political dominance of the shipping industry.

Abeywickrema’s presentation went on to disclose many scandals in the shipping industry in the past.

After P.B.G. Kalugalla became the Minister of Shipping and Tourism, he initiated the formation of the national shipping line, Ceylon Shipping Corporation Ltd. (CSC), fully owned by the Government.

The first ship acquired by CSC was MV Lanka Singha and not MV Lanka Rani, as was widely believed. CSC is said to have purchased MV Maldives Explorer, a ship owned by Malship Ltd., a powerful shipping line in the region at that time.

The acquisition of the ship MV Lanka Singha is shrouded in secrecy. This episode was short-lived.

With the help of a German shipping company, CSC acquired MV Lanka Rani, and thereafter purchased MV Lanka Sagarika, MV Lanka Devi, MV Lanka Shanthi, MV Lanka Ratna, and MV Lanka Keerthi. MV Lanka Kalyani and MV Lanka Kanthi were purchased with Chinese help to carry cargo in the Rubber-Rice Pact with China.

CSC formed a joint venture with Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and set up Lanka Tankers Ltd., and bought the second-hand tanker MT Thammanna under this company 

Abeywickrema paid a tribute to P.B. Karandawela, who was then the Secretary to the Ministry of Shipping and Tourism and also the Chairman of CSC for his vision, innovativeness, and far-thinking business model. He laid the foundation and should be credited with the development of the maritime industry in that period.

As a Central Banker, he took over an industry unknown to him, and his achievements are unparalleled. “He created vertical and horizontal integration by starting Ceylon Port Services for chandelling, Colombo Dockyard for ship repairs, and the Central Freight Bureau as a countervailing power against the autocratic shipping conference system which prevailed at that time.”

The first container service to call Colombo was the Aust-Iran service, which was a joint venture between Australia and Iran. CSC were the agents. Vessels in this service had Ro/Ro ramps and the containers were handled by moving them on trailers. Then APL (now merged with CMA-CGM) followed. The containers were handled in the yard with a fork lift. Those days, it was known by its brand name ‘Kalmar’.

“The next phase in the Sri Lankan maritime industry was when the Sri Lanka Europe service was containerised, which was a joint venture with Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) of Singapore. The service started with two container vessels owned by NOL. MV Neptune Sapphire and MV Neptune Emerald were the vessels of the first fully containerised service in South Asia and was a game changer in the region, giving CSC a competitive edge,” Abeywickrema disclosed and continued. 

“The five break-bulk ships which operated the monthly West-bound (Europe) service only covering Colombo in South Asia were replaced by the two container ships operating a fortnightly service with the transit times cut by half. The service gave coverage to Karachi in Pakistan and Mumbai in India.”CSC initiated the first container berth in the Port of Colombo and got a gantry crane from sea containers to the berth. It was a ‘great leap forward’ and got ahead of the rest of the competition at that time and it did pay off.