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Exporters further demotivated 

03 Apr 2022

  • Face vessel space constraint, doubling cost
Exporters are facing considerable space constraints for their shipments in vessels as shipping lines have reduced the capacity given to each customer due to increased demand for vessel space in the region, according to the Sri Lanka Logistics and Freight Forwarders Association (SLLFFA). Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, SLLFFA Chairman Dinesh Chandrasekara said due to the higher demand globally, volumes of shipments had increased among the countries in the region which had led to exporters splitting up their shipments. He said the volume of shipments had increased especially in countries such as India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and China in the region.  However, he said with splitting up shipments, exporters were faced with duplication of their transport, customs, terminal, and other costs in the origin country as well as the destination country. Chandrasekara said that this space constraint had gradually increased since 2020 when countries opened their borders for international trade. He added that initially the demand was for PPEs and medical equipment which later converted to consumer demand with increased retail purchasing. He said that there had been a “considerable reduction of capacity” in the vessels. Further, on the container shortage that existed for exporters in Sri Lanka, Chandrasekara said that containers were now available and the situation was much better compared to six months ago. However, he said containers were still stuck at ports as new containers would get stuck when old containers were released.  Shippers’ Council Chairman Russell Juriansz also confirmed that the container shortage for the exporters had been solved now. The ship traffic to Sri Lanka reduced to 4,180 in 2021 when compared to 4,337 in 2020, according to Central Bank data. Loadstar, a media organisation covering supply chain news, said that securing space on containerships was viewed as the biggest challenge for the logistics sector going into 2022 due to the increase in container volumes and on-off shocks from the pandemic. – By Imesh Ranasinghe


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