YoungShip Sri Lanka forum on ‘New normal in shipping; are current shipping trends here to stay?’

Panellists and some of the officials of YoungShip Sri Lanka  

In what has been two years of unprecedented challenges unlike ever faced before in this generation, the traditional way in which businesses operated prior to the pandemic seem to be a far cry from how they operate today. Processes which were considered normal in the past have now become defunct or obsolete and we have moved on to what is now call the ‘new normal’. 

YoungShip Sri Lanka being the voice of the youth in the maritime industry and having ambition to drive a better and improved tomorrow decided to conduct a panel discussion to look into the major issues faced by the maritime industry. The maritime industry too has not been spared and has been forced to embrace change. Therefore, looking at some of the challenges faced within the industry, a panel discussion on ‘New normal in shipping; are current shipping trends here to stay’ was conducted.

This discussion included an esteemed panel comprising of elite personalities who are at the height of their own respective careers bringing to the table a wealth of diverse knowledge from their respective fields. The distinctiveness of this forum was the participation of key officials holding senior positions in each of the main shipping and logistics associations in Sri Lanka, being hosted together at an insightful discussion for the first time. 

The panel comprised CASA’s Immediate Past Chairman Iqram Cuttilan, SLAVO Chairman Shamal Perera, SLAFFA Chairman Roshan Silva, Shippers Council Vice Chairman Imalka Kumarapeli, SLANA Chairman Harsha De Silva and was moderated by YoungShip Sri Lanka Patron Navin Perera.

The pandemic has brought along its own unique problems and challenges. There were many questions posed on whether Sri Lanka was attractive to shipping lines, whether the port of Colombo was indeed congested, the ability of importers and exporters to obtain space, the equipment availability and whether local exporters were losing out market share to other competing countries in the region due to a shortage of space just to name a few. 

Covering these topics and hearing the perspective from the shippers, vessel operators, freight forwarders, NVOCC operators and CASA made the discussion truly unique. Youngship has taken a big step to be one of the first associations in the industry to address this current topic amongst a forum of panellists heading key associations in Sri Lanka and launching the discussion on social media making the knowledge widely accessible to the shipping fraternity as well as the general public.

YoungShip Sri Lanka is a part of YoungShip International which was formed to be the voice for young people in the maritime industry. YoungShip’s core objectives are to promote young entrepreneurs and to drive companies to promote and inculcate value for the growth of young professionals. Headquartered in Norway, YoungShip is present in 18 countries with a membership of over 3,000. 

The full discussion can be found either via following the below link or simply scanning the QR code, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GriM_bTOc80&t=3s.