European Chamber promotes Sri Lanka as a maritime hub

The European Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (ECCSL) has identified Sri Lanka as a potential hub for rig refurbishment and marine repairs. 

ECCSL has a membership of over 200 companies with a diversified Market Access Teams (MAT)/advocacy groups for IT and electronics/communications, energy and infrastructure, travel and tourism, healthcare, aviation and transport and logistics. 

A series of consultations with the ECCSL members and industry stakeholders is slated to begin from 3 March at ECCSL premises.

ECCSL has now embarked on promoting Sri Lanka as a marine engineering/offshore repair hub and proposes an advocacy group for marine industry. Three of ECCSL members have shown interest such as Colombo Dockyard, MTD Walkers, DEV Marine, and Hayleys Energy Services. 

MTD Walkers/Colombo Engineering had successfully executed a number of offshore marine projects. Hayleys Energy has been able to successfully refurbish a land rig in Sri Lanka which was a milestone in marine industry in Sri Lanka. 

DEV Marine has undertaken ship repair contracts, Colombo Dockyard has been active in shipbuilding and ship repair but has had limited fortunes in refurbishing offshore rigs. Colombo Dockyard has had an opportunity of refurbishing an offshore rig in the past.

There is widespread synergy among Sri Lanka marine engineering companies and there is a very high potential to create a rig refurbishment centre in Sri Lanka. 

Offshore oil drilling activities are currently taking place in India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Burma, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The industry stakeholders believe that Sri Lanka can be promoted to attract offshore drilling rigs and this would require greater access to Port of Colombo or Port of Trincomalee. 

However the lack of facilities at Port of Trincomalee would be a negative factor even though water is much deeper in Trincomalee than in Colombo. There is also a greater manoeuvrability in Trincomalee due its vast size and depth. 

ECCSL General Manager Srinath Fernando said: “Since we have synergy among our Sri Lankan marine engineering companies there is a huge potential to develop the offshore rig refurbishment and marine repair industry in Sri Lanka. I have come to know that our marine industry is hampered by the lack of skilled labour such as competent welders. Perhaps the Government can deregulate the visa regimes so that labour required for the industry can be outsourced from the region. I know from my personal experience that even Middle Eastern shipyards employ blue collar labour from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and white collar ship repair managers are recruited from Poland, Romania and Portugal where shipbuilding is now on the decline.”

Fernando added: “The Government must have a holistic approach to developing a marine hub in Sri Lanka. There are a number of European drilling and oil exploration contractors working in the oil and gas industry in Asia, especially in Bangladesh, Thailand, India, Burma, Vietnam, etc. and I am strongly of the view that Sri Lanka can be positioned to participate in such projects. Our chamber will be in a position to lobby the Government on policy and regulatory issues that confront the industry if there is a joint effort by the marine lobby. If oil or gas is struck in offshore Sri Lanka it would be a game changer in our economy.”

The European Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (ECCSL) was established in 1996 and its mandate is to promote the economic interests of Sri Lanka and EU member states. Most of the equipment, marine grade raw materials, services and expertise for oil and gas industry are sourced from European countries.