Over 40 ships carrying essentials bypass Colombo
By Maheesha Mudugamuwa
The lack of adequate employees at the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) to handle the operations of the Colombo Port, particularly at the Jaya Container Terminal (JCT), has posed a huge threat to the continuous supply of daily essentials to the local market, The Sunday Morning learnt. Over 40 vessels have already bypassed the Colombo Port without unloading containers at JCT. As a result, essential food importers fear their containers would not arrive before their existing stocks are exhausted. Essential Food Commodities Importers and Traders’ Association (EFCITA) President G. Rajendran warned that there would be a delay in supplying essential items if the unloading of containers is delayed further. The essential items aboard those 40 vessels are set to be unloaded at another regional port, which would require the Government to transport the containers to Sri Lanka from that port, costing both time and money. [caption id="attachment_105180" align="alignleft" width="300"]
The isolation of Kaiser Street in Colombo has left its street vendors without a source of income Photo : Lalith Perera [/caption]
When contacted, Minister of Trade Dr. Bandula Gunawardana told The Sunday Morning that he has requested Minister of Ports and Shipping Rohitha Abeygunawardena to immediately attend to the issue within the SLPA as well as to look at the possibilities for expediting the process of unloading essentials.
Dr. Gunawardana admitted that there was an issue due to the current Covid-19 situation, as there was a shortage of employees at the Colombo Port.
When asked what action would be taken to mitigate the shortage, the Minister said that if nothing could be done immediately to solve the matter, the country would have to endure a food shortage, as there is no other option during a pandemic like this.
Meanwhile, the SLPA said it expects a significant loss in revenue due to the delays and drop in efficiency, which is yet to be calculated by the authority.
It is learnt that many ships that were supposed to unload at JCT had bypassed and gone to other nearest destinations instead, after reports of over 30 employees testing positive for Covid-19 emerged. The SLPA itself has requested some vessels to divert their destinations instead of coming to Colombo directly, as there is a serious delay due to the lack of port employees.
Nevertheless, SLPA Chairman Gen. Daya Ratnayake told The Sunday Morning that the Colombo Port would not be closed under any circumstances and that the port had already called retired employees, expecting to resume operations within next week at a normal pace.
Admitting that there is a serious issue in handling port operations, Gen. Ratnayake said: “We had a serious issue due to the coronavirus situation. The port is situated in the worst area of the country, and the majority of port workers have lived in the Gampaha District as well as in the Bloemendhal, Modara, Mattakkuliya areas. These areas have now been severely affected by the ongoing pandemic. Around 30% of workers are from Gampaha and more than 600 quarters of the SLPA are situated in these areas.”
He told The Sunday Morning that in spite of the issues, the SLPA was running the port 24/7.
“We need a large number of employees to operate the JCT. The port’s activity revolved around the JCT and we had 30 Covid-19-positive cases plus 200 first contacts. They have been sent for quarantine. This is not a management issue. We have followed all required health guidelines,” the Chairman reiterated, adding that though there were people available, the authority needed specially trained people to operate gantry cranes.
“We hope the operations will be returned to normal by next week, as 60% of employees have been in operation for the past two, three days,” he added.
“We requested some of the vessels to go. There will be delays. All other ports have similar issues. Some vessels have gone to take time. Vessels that are coming from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East are directly coming to Colombo. Instead of coming here, they are now going to Singapore, Myanmar, or some other closer destination and on the way back, they will unload the containers.”
Meanwhile, speaking to The Sunday Morning, All Ceylon General Ports Employees’ Union (ACGPEU) Deputy General Secretary G. Niroshan stressed that there was around a 40% reduction in SLPA employees reporting to work, mainly due to the quarantine curfew imposed in the Gampaha District.
“Even though employees can come to work using their passes, they are not coming because there is no proper Covid-19 management programme at the port premises,” he stressed.
Employees do not want to put their lives at risk. He said that while most of the gantry crane, transfer crane, and other crane operators were residing in the Gampaha District, since they were not reporting to work, the unloading of shipments had been delayed.
According to him, the delay in unloading shipments would result in a huge loss to the SLPA.
“At present, the management is discussing the possibilities of calling for retired employees as a measure to continue port operations. But as of today (Friday, 13), none of the measures have been implemented,” Niroshan noted.
He also alleged that at present, a number of ships have been stuck at ports without being able to unload the shipments.