WISTA arranged panel discussion on National Maritime Policy and way forward

From left: Panelists Catriona Jayasundera, Tania Polonnowita Wettimuny, Anoma Ranasinghe, Gayani De Alwis, and Aparna Thilakaratne

 Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA) - Sri Lanka arranged a panel discussion on “National Maritime Policy and way forward” following their Annual General Meeting held at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce on 13 July 2017. The aim of the discussion was to discuss the views of the members to make submission to the Ports and Shipping Ministry in formulation of a Maritime Policy to support the current business model. 

The Panel featured Sri Lanka Logistics and Freight Forwarders Association Immediate Chairperson Tania Polonnowita Wettimuny, CILT Vice Chairperson Gayani De Alwis, Marketing and Commercial General Manager Catriona Jayasundera and Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chief Law Officer Aparna Thilakaratne. The discussion was moderated by Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (UK) – Sri Lanka Branch Chairperson Anoma Ranasinghe. The four panelists focused on areas of port and terminal outlook, providing of Ancillary Services, Multimodal Transport for sustainable development, role of Supply Chain for a dynamic Maritime policy and legal constraints hindering an effective policy. All panelists stressed the importance of the need to revise the shipping policy and have a sustainable policy in place. Having a state-of-the-art infrastructure to meet the demand of port users, requirement of right facilities for value additions and ancillary services, having a public/private partnership business model; overcoming the challenges faced by multimodal transport operators to be competitive, Terminalization of Supply chain to optimize terminal capacity and  to increase throughput, having quality human capital and focus more on Training and Skills Development, introducing Maritime and Logistics in to school curricula and simplification of current legislation, policy and procedures for ease of business.