Minister of Ports and Shipping Rohitha Abeygunawardena has appointed Ceyline Group Director Mevan Peiris to the Board of Ceylon Shipping Corporation Ltd. (CSC).
Peiris is also a Director of CINEC Campus, the leading maritime education institute in Sri Lanka. He said that CSC in the 1970’s and 1980’s used to be the most prestigious shipping organization in Sri Lanka. During one time CSC owned 17 ships and it was the pride of the Sri Lankan Shipping industry. Many of the current Industry tycoons including Ceyline Group’s Chairman Captain Ajith Peiris were proud products of CSC.”
Over the years due to many internal and external issues, CSC’s presence in the shipping sector had depleted. The fleet decreased to two and its market presence too reduced significantly.
In addition the CSC lacked the marketing skills to stand afloat in an extremely competitive global industry where only the fittest survive. “However with the backing of the government and with an experienced and dynamic Ports and Shipping Minister Abeygunawardena to guide us we remain optimistic on a turnaround for CSC. We are now moving with the right strategy and are fighting our way back to once again make CSC the pride of Sri Lanka’s shipping industry.”
Currently CSC has many assets in its balance sheet, including two bulk carriers, Ceylon Princess and Ceylon Breeze. “I also think that CSC’s biggest asset is existing management team which is very experienced with a wealth of industry knowledge.”
The Minister has given the current CSC team a mandate to come up with a new strategy to steer the corporation towards being a profit-making entity. The Minister has assured the fullest support of the Government to do so.
“I intend to obtain the blessings of the Minister and CSC Chairman Wineendra Weeraman to form a “Think Tank” comprising of key personnel at CSC. “This committee is to be headed by the CSC Chairman with the objective of conducting a detailed analysis of the existing operation, market conditions and come up with a new strategy. This is to be presented to the Minister within two months.”
Collaborating with other State Shipping Corporations (eg: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Etc.) to look at joint-services between and using berthing priority at ports as a competitive edge, tying up with the Private sector and working on a PPP model for services and other areas such as Ship Management, Crew Management, Training and Development, etc. with the intention of improving cost and operational efficiency are on the cards.
“We also want to propose to the government that it should ensure that CSC is used for the import and export of all Government cargo (eg: fertilizer, petroleum, etc.). This will also increase seafaring job opportunities for Sri Lankan youth whilst reducing the outflow of foreign exchange.
An alumnus of Monash University, Peiris has over 12 years of experience in the shipping and logistics industry. He also brings international shipping experience to the table, with his five-year stint at the Australian national carrier, ANL Container Line (CMA CGM Group).
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