The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Sri Lanka, held its first road show for the year 2019 at the Hanbantota International Port Group (HIPG) head office on January 25. Chairperson CILT Sri Lanka, Ms Gayani de Alwis CMILT, Council members, H A Premarathna FCILT, Dr Priyangani Jayasundara CMILT, Chaminda Perera CMILT and Vasantha Dias, Secretary General CILT attended the event. The membership drive was organized at the request of Jeevan Premasara, General Manager, Human Resources and Ms. Chandula Rambukwella, Senior Manager, Commercial and Marketing of HIPG, coordinated arrangements for the road show.
Chairperson, CILT Sri Lanka in her welcome address, explained the history of CILT and mentioned that CILT is the only chartered professional body in the country for professionals engaged in transport, logistics and supply chain and its main aim is to promote continuing professional education in the sector to uplift the skills and competencies of transport and logistics professionals in diverse backgrounds and also create value to the economy.
The Chairperson during her address, further stressed that CILT’s role is both passenger and goods transport in all modes of transport, land transport, maritime, aviation and emphasized that HIPG plays a vital role to ensure the efficient and reliable movement of goods and passengers. The Chairperson invited all HIPG & HIPS professionals to come forward and work together with CILT SL to develop the trade. Chaminda Perera CMILT, explained about the membership criteria and the procedures to the participants.
Nearly 65 employees from HIPG took part at the road show to become CILT members. It was interesting to note young WiLAT member, Shakkya Perera, currently working as a Procurement Executive at HIPG, sharing her experiences with WiLAT and how the exposure with CILT and WiLAT helped her in her career journey. At the request of CILT, HIPG also showed their keenness to set up the Southern chapter for CILT. It was a productive day for both CILT and HIPG, which paved the way for a new beginning to work together on initiatives that are of mutual benefit. The CILT team also was taken on a tour around the Hambantota Port and the team thanked HIPG for their great hospitality.
The HIPG is a public-private partnership between the Government of Sri Lanka and China Merchants Port Holdings, a world-renowned port operator with a significant presence in all aspects of the shipping industry. HIPG is the single largest port in Sri Lanka, located ten nautical miles from the global trade route. It is a subsidiary company of Hambantota International Port Services (HIPS), which is a joint venture between HIPG and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). The Joint Venture Company is responsible for facilitating the safety within the port. HIPG, HIPS and SLPA work together to ensure the efficient and reliable movement of goods and passengers integrating environmental, social and economic sustainability initiatives into all areas of port operations. HIPG invested in essential equipment for Port of Hambantota which enhanced operational capabilities to another level by attracting internal cargo volumes via Hambantota. Further implementation of new customer services levels, Terminal operating systems (BTOS) and standard operating procedures are some of the reasons that enabled to double the RORO cargo volumes and handled 300 vessels in 2018. HIPG was also able to increase the RORO cargo volume by 159%, compared to 2017. Apart from core businesses as RORO, HIPG already commenced to break bulk cargo operations extending the handling capacity of the port to another level. Further, hot lay-ups also facilitated at the berth for various reasons such as ship repairs along with many other different services required from Hambantota (Southern area) itself, which benefitted the local community. HIPG is planning to commence Bunkering Operations during the mid-year of 2019, which would result in further development of business operations at the Port of Hambantota.
CILT is a leading global professional body, associated with logistics, transport and supply chain industry. The Institute holds unparalleled international recognition and works towards achieving its objectives of promoting and encouraging the art and science of logistics and transport through its membership and its educational qualifications. CILT is celebrating its centenary year this year and has a global membership of over 34,000 in 35 countries across the globe. CILT provides a professional identity to those in the ever expanding logistics and transport sector. It is a strong, active and a unified professional association that is able to speak with authority on strategic issues affecting businesses and people in the industry and support their careers.
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