Sri Lanka to develop its marine industry

by Lanka Times, Sri Lanka on 27 Jan 2009 As an island nation Sri Lanka is determined to explore and harness its most valuable resource, the sea, for economic growth and expansion.

The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka has played an important part in promoting a number of projects dependent on the sea such as seaside tourist hotels, fisheries projects, in addition to the development of ports, marinas, oil exploration and other important economic activities.

Boat building is an essential component of this strategy as many of these types of activities depend heavily on the availability of boats and ships. Boats have a very wide range of applications in leisure, tourism, sport, exploration, transport, fisheries, and even surveillance.

It is worthy of note that since the BOI was established, Sri Lanka has a well developed boatbuilding industry comprised of a number of reputed companies engaged in the construction of a variety of types of boats. This capacity has become a major export sector offering promising potential for growth as a result of the future importance that will be accorded to economic sectors such as fisheries, tourism and perhaps oil exploration.

Among the companies that operate under the BOI regime are established names such as Neil Fernando and Co (Pvt) Ltd. Neil Fernando & Co that was established 4 decades ago, is reputed for the quality and durability of its fiberglass boats.

Initially Neil Marine were catering for the local fisheries sector but have now exported their boats to foreign markets such the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and Norway. Furthermore, the company has made inroads into new markets like the Maldives, the Seychelles, Persian Gulf Nations, and some African states.

To date Neil Marine has built over 38,000 boats of different types. These include fisheries research vessels, speed cruisers, luxury and surveillance crafts and fast attack craft that are used by Sri Lankan forces. Neil marine also recently secured an order to supply the Pakistani Navy with fiberglass craft. Recently Neil Marine manufactured totally enclosed lifeboats that can be used by companies engaged in oil exploration.

Another well-known BOI company that manufactures boats is Dhanusha Marine Lanka exports that also build fiberglass boats to meet the requirements of international and domestic markets. Their boats are exported to India, the Maldives, the Netherlands, Norway and Germany. Many of the boats they build are leisure crafts, speedboats, fishing boats and powerboats.

The company’s exports to the Maldives include essentially leisure boats while in Germany the demand is mainly for fishing boats and leisure boats.

In many part of the world, sailing is a popular sport and leisure activity. Sailing is a highly specialized sporting activity, which ranges from small craft to highly advanced and complex yachts. One interesting and popular class of sailing boats is the catamaran sailboat, a sporting craft that can be supported by one or two motors.

One Sri Lankan company that builds these catamarans and operates under the BOI regime is the Barramundi Boatyard (pvt) Ltd. This enterprise is a 100% export orientated company located at the BOI’s Koggala Export Processing Zone.

In addition to building catamarans, Barramundi Boatyards also make mono hull sailing vessels and motor ships. The most important vessels they build are the Brazapi 46 that is a catamaran sailing boat and the Roland 45, a catamaran motorboat.

A newcomer to boat manufacturing in Sri Lanka is Solas Marine services Ltd that recently entered into an agreement with the BOI to build boats and yachts. Solas Marine Services ltd is based in Dubai and specializes in the manufacture of lifesaving equipment, survival equipment, fire and gas detection, navigation and communications and other areas.

These products will be built at their manufacturing plant in Wattala that will employ 60 workers. The types of boats that will be built will include fishing boats, luxury boats, inter-island service boats, crew boats, leisure crafts and luxury yachts.

Much of the technology used is from the USA and Canada and the final products will be exported mainly to Dubai and the Middle East where leisure craft such as yachts are in high demand due to the development of marinas. This kind of development can be replicated in Sri Lanka where efforts have been made to develop marinas to encourage a marine leisure industry. In Galle Port, a yacht marine zone is being built which will place Sri Lanka as a destination in the international yachting map.