89 containers of imported items like Basmati rice, Areca nuts lie idle in port for years

Eighty-nine containers with items such as Basmati rice imported to Sri Lanka and detained by the customs have been stored in the Port’s terminals and warehouses for many years incurring huge losses, a statement from the Port, Shipping and Aviation Ministry said.

This was revealed at a discussion held at the Ministry of Ports on February 3 under Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. 

Due to this, the Port Authority has had to face a huge financial loss and a huge administrative problem due to storage space in warehouses and terminals, the officials of the Port Authority pointed out.

Among these items are 12 containers of areca nuts detained in 2015, 39 containers of basmati rice detained in 2019, 15 containers of tiles detained in 2020, 05 containers of auto spare parts detained in 2013, 04 containers of textiles and stationery detained in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and 04 containers of alcohol and ethanol. In this discussion, officials pointed out that the Port Authority should charge a minimum of Rs. 2,445 million as ground charges from these containers. In addition, it was revealed that around 40 cars and lorries, including 02 Benz and Range Rover cars, which have been detained since 2015, are at the terminals of the Port Authority. The officials of the Customs Department who participated in the discussion pointed out that there are such delays in dealing with the Customs Ordinance Act. Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said that the Port and Customs officials should work together to amend the outdated Customs Ordinance Act as necessary to carry out an efficient clearance process according to the needs of the time.

As the law does not allow the Port Authority to recover from the money earned by Customs as warehousing fees, the Minister instructed the officials to remove the 89 containers including perishable goods within a week.

A group of officials including Mr. Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, State Minister of Finance, participated in this discussion.

• It was revealed that around 40 cars and lorries, including 02 Benz and Range Rover cars, which have been detained since 2015, are at the terminals of the Port Authority