CASA elects Shehara De Silva as its first female Chairperson

Creating history in the country’s shipping industry, the Ceylon Association of Shipping Agents (CASA) has elected McLarens Shipping Group Managing Director Shehara De Silva as the association’s first female Chairperson.
De Silva was elected at the 55th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association, held virtually on the 17th of this month, with the attendance of over 100 members and other key stakeholders.

Delivering her address at the AGM as the newly-elected Chairperson of the CASA, she invited all industry stakeholders to come together to work towards facilitating towards a more level playing field for all, while eliminating unconscious bias against women in the shipping industry.  “I want to stress that I hope to see more women in this industry creating waves. I do not advocate feminism as a means to create separation with genders but believe in men and women working together for a common objective. 

My only and humble request is that we can all be aware of unconscious bias against women in our industry and work towards a more level playing field, enabling women to rise and contribute, creating gender parity and ultimately reap the proven economic benefits for all,” she said. 

Speaking of the country’s maritime hub ambitions, she urged the government to prioritise improving the regulatory landscape and physical infrastructure further to improve the quality and speed of maritime services at competitive pricing, in order to realise the hub potential and to transform the industry to become a top foreign exchange earner for the country.

In particular, De Silva urged the government to revisit some of the restrictive regulations that have turned the Colombo Port less appealing to global shipping lines, despite its ideal location.

“Shipping lines are by law not permitted to collect terminal handling charges as a separate charge, import export cargo as they do in regional ports and this makes Colombo a less attractive and costly destination. Shipping agents have faced a daunting task of advocating for space on vessels for import export cargo and convince lines to reposition containers to Colombo, despite the restrictive local regulations,” she noted.

Further, she also pointed out the need to incentivise and promote all industry stakeholders from vessel ownership along with ship managers, supplying ship’s crew and maritime education centres as part of the national maritime priorities, in order to further develop the industry as a key forex earner to the nation.

The CASA membership represents all international shipping lines that call Sri Lankan ports, given its key strategic location in close proximity to the main international shipping lanes. Further, they are also involved in vessel agency, husbanding services and act as manning/crewing agents for leading ship owners and managers. 
The CASA was founded as the Ceylon Shipping Committee in 1944.