Pirates Ahoy

The Hapag-Lloyd delegation including, Capt. Prateek Gandhi – Director Operations, Hapag-Lloyd, Regional Office, Dubai,Mr. Faheem Mir – Manager - Operations, Hapag-Lloyd, Regional Office, Dubai,Mr. Lalith Witanachchi – Vice President, Hapag-Lloyd Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Mr. Mindaka Dassanayake – General Manager, Hapag-Lloyd Lanka (Pvt) Ltd.,Mr. Rohan Ranasinghe – Terminal Operations Manager, Hapag-Lloyd AG and Mr. Iqram Cuttilan – Managing Director, Aitken Spence Shipping Ltd poses for a pic with SLPA’s Chairman -Admiral Sirimewan Ranasinghe and the Managing Director - Eng. Ganaka Hemachandra. SLPA's Vice Chairman - Eng. Herath M.P. Jayawardhana, Director (Operations) - Mrs. G. Zavia Miskin and Director (Marketing and BD) - Mr. H J K U Kumara are also present.

Exporters are calling the inclusion of a significant part of lquote on the ship expenses to the terminal handling charge (THC), technically a recovery of land based cost, as unfair and anticompetitive.
A breakdown of the THC shows that upto US$ 81 of the US$ 148 levy for a 20 foot container was for discharging and loading cargo, a charge borne by the shipping lines before 1997. rn

rnIndustry sources say only about US$ 50 to US$ 60 of the THC accounted for on shore handling, while the remainder of ship related.rn

rnIndustry sources also say the shipping lines have factored in a US$ 5 profit to the THC. rn

rnTHC charges at the Colombo Port are among the highest in the region, coming in at number three after Hong Kong and Indonesia. rn

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