Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port to receive services of global player in bunkering business to supply fuel to ships
The Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka’s southern region has reportedly announced that a global player in the bunkering business is to be selected soon to supply ship fuel at the Hambantota Port, with its Chinese operator in the landlord role.
Tissa Wickramasinghe, Chief Operating Officer of Hambantota International Port Group (HPIG) (Pvt) Ltd., has been quoted as saying in the local media that a key driver of the port’s growth will be its bunkering tank farm.
Six global bunker players had picked up the tender document when HPIG called for expressions of interest, he told a forum held by the Asia Securities brokerage where its new study on the logistics sector was presented.
Tenders closed at the end of 2018.
“We will select a global player to run the tank farm and we will be playing the landlord role,” Wickramasinghe has been quoted as saying.
Although China’s CM Port, which controls HPIG took over the port in December 2017 it was only in July last year that it had taken over the bunkering tank farm.
“We have a foreign team mobilising it at the moment because it has not been operational for over two years and there are a lot of safety rules that need to be met,” Wickramasinghe has said.
“Until the bunker tanks get going we will not see big growth in the business.”
Wickramasinghe has further noted that the Hambantota Port has potential in supplying ship fuel given its location halfway between Singapore and Fujairah, two of the world’s number biggest bunkering ports.
OSL take:
The Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka is in close proximity to the international maritime line. Therefore, the opportunities of doing business at the Hambantota Port are continuously expanding. The port also has an industrial zone adjacent to it enabling foreign businesses to set up industries with easy access to logistics. Once a global player commences the supplying of ship fuel to the port’s bunkering facility the Hambantota Port will become an attractive port for global shipping lines to call at. Foreign businesses could explore investment opportunities in the Hambantota Port and its industrial zone since Sri Lanka’s geographical positioning has made the country a hub in the Indian Ocean region.
| Article Code : | VBA/AT/11012019/Z_3 |