Bringing the much needed foreign exchange to Sri Lanka, Acrus Shipping Colombo 2, convinced a ship owner from Russia to repair a ship in Hambantota Port.
The repair was complex since it was carried out at Hambantota Harbor and also during lock down.
The vessel was to sail to Dubai from Hambantota by tow but due to ACRUS Shipping’s assurance that the repair could be done in Sri Lanka the vessel managers were convinced and managed to change their plans and stayed on.”
“The initial repairs were done by the Danish Service Engineers with the assistance of Colombo Dockyard,” but due to COVID 19 the Danish technicians had to fly back said General Manager, ACRUS Shipping Pvt Ltd, Dharshan Bodiyabaduge.
“Since we wanted to make good impressing we went out of our way and chartered a plane from Denmark to get down ship technicians back again from Denmark with using the open windows by the government.
This was done at Mattala Rajapaksa airport and having an international airport nearby was a major plus point to succeed in this operation.”
Kanchana Silva who is the MD/CEO at Acrus Shipping was able to contact his partners in Denmark and arranged a Charter flight to fly with engineers with support of his professional ground handling operations team.
This was co-ordinated very closely with Ministry of Health / Ministry of Defense and Sri Lanka Navy/Immigration & Emigration dept and Hambantota International Sea Port Group and Mattala Mahinda Rajapaksa Airport officials who facilitated with their outmost support to make this transfer smooth.
“Technicians from Denmark flew on the charter flight to attend the remaining repairs on board whilst the vessel at berth in Hambantota Port. As soon the engineers were landed, MRIA officials were able to carry out PCR test, Visa matters and gave the green light to direct transfer to the vessel since their results were negative against the PCR test done at port of origin prior boarding the flight and at MRIA.”
“The success of this operation opens up a new area of business; ‘ship repairing operations’ for Hambantota gives global credibility to our shipping industry. The success of this operation also proves that Sri Lankan shipping industry is not second to any other operators in this region”
During the operation the ship’s crew were staying in Hambantota and paying for its ships stay in Sri Lankan waters bringing more revenue to Sri Lanka. They also obtained other services from Hambantota.
Acrus Shipping not only engage in ship repair activities, but also handle Under water hull cleaning , crew changes and emergency medical evacuation, Sea Marshall Transit Services, Delivery of Ships Spares, Bunkers and fresh water, Garbage and sludge removal, ship chandelling,.”
“We thank the government for opening up the gates with certain restrictions to make this possible and hope that the gates will be fully opened very soon which would impact the financial revenue of the port/agents/country in line with COVID 19 protocols,” said Managing Director Acrus Shipping Kanchana Silva.”
“We also have officers in all Ports and further develop our overseas branches operations through our head office in Colombo and regional office in Singapore.”
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