Colombo Port gets recognition from ICSO

Colombo: The international governing body on container security, International Container Security Organisation (ICSO) has commended the Colombo port as one of the best ports in the world with the availability of crucial global compliances such as the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code) and Container Security Initiative (CSI).

The Director General of the ICSO Stefaan Vermeire made these comments during his presentation on ‘Container Security Devices and Container Surveillance” made at the seminar titled “Colombo 2010: An Emerging Regional Mega Port” organized by the Company of Master Mariners of Sri Lanka on Friday.

“There is a good future for Colombo due to its location in the international shipping route. On the other hand in today’s world the ships are getting bigger and bigger and the ports which can handle these ships are less. Those ports which can accommodate these ships become winners and those cannot become carriers of yesterday. In that respect security wise the Colombo port can now compete with other international ports focusing itself for a bright future. Therefore I see that Colombo is in the right track,” he said.

Vermeire also said that though there is an international mandatory dead line until 2012, for all the ports in the world to get CSI compliance and Sri Lanka has already complied five years ahead.

Speaking on the current trends in relation to international container security, Vermeire said that security of the world had changed since the 9/11 incident.

“Whether we like or not the 9/11 incident changed the security of USA and the rest of the world into a new dimension. The introduction of the ICSO and CSI is a direct result of 9/11 and is used to protect the ships and ports all over the world.
In that sense the security of the containers and goods tracking systems, detecting tampering and other issues become very important in the international shipping trade.” “This require smart gadgets coming up to the doors of the containers with satellite communication and so on. On the other hand all these technologies are not compliant with each other. In that respect the role of the ICSO come into action. What we do is we bring stability in exchanging of data of the containers, its status and tracking service,” he said.

Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Additional Managing Director Capt. Nihal Keppetipola delivering the key note address at the seminar said that the Colombo Port had spent US$ 50 million in getting ISPS compliancy and CSI compliancy for container scanning.

“The Port of Colombo has now achieved the Hub Port status in the South Asia Region and is ranked 29th in the international ranking of Container Ports.
Thus we have identified the changes in the world of shipping and in order to capture the growing market and keeping abreast with the supply chain demands, we launched the Colombo Port Expansion Project and Hambantota New Port Project.

Capt. Keppetipola also indicated new measures taken to the development of a Logistics Centre “Cargo Village” in a 22 acres area with a rail and road access where total logistics operations and value addition will be provided by SLPA.

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