Shippers’ Council conducts seminar on NAVIS’ system
The Sri Lanka Shippers’ Council (SLSC), the apex body representing the voice of the Sri Lankan Shippers’ o r g a n i z e d a n aw a r e n e s s seminar on extension of t h e N AV I S ’ s y s t e m , together with Sri Lanka Por ts Authority and Bank of Ceylon at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce recently.
The Sri Lanka Por ts Au t h o r i t y i s mov i n g f o r - ward wi t h i t s a ut o mati o n p r o g r a mme a n d i s c r e a t - i n g aw a r e n e s s a m o n g s t the trading community of their new operating syst e m. Speaking at t he well - at t e n d e d i n d u s t r y g at h e ri n g , S L PA C h a i r ma n D r. P r i yat h Ba n d u Wick r a ma explained the current developments and the future plans of the por t. His team explained how the new extension of t h e NAV I S ’ s y s t e m wo u l d b e n e f i t t h e i mp o r t a n d e x p o r t t r a d e c o m m u n i t y. T h e s y s t e m will allow all por t users in stages to access this system for various f aci l i t i e s af t e r re gistration with the SLPA. They will be able to make payments through Inter net b a nki ng i ni t i a l ly t hro ugh Bank of Ceylon for por t charges on Exports, Imports and subsequently for other por t f acilities. T he Por t C h a i r man e x p l a i n e d t h a t t h i s woul d b e n e f i t a l l t h e clients who work with the por t to reduce paper work and expedite the process when doing business with the port.
M r. D i n e s h D e S i l v a , Vi c e Chair man, Shi p p e r s ’ Council speaking at the seminar explained the i mpor t a n c e o f e mbraci n g t he s e f a c i l i t i e s a nd ur g e d the port users to use the f a c i l i t i e s i n o rd e r m ove ahead as an industry, as a n a t i o n t o b e c o mp e t i t ive a mong t he re g i o n. He f ur- t her s a i d t hat a ut o mation is a jour ney to continue improvement and that SLSC i s c o mmitt e d t o t a ke t h i s jour ney forward for the bett e r ment o f t he p o r t us e r s and the industry.
The proposed system has been tested and a pilot project will be done soon with selected por t users from t he i ndus t r y b e f o r e g o i ng on line. The new system is e x p e c t e d t o b e i nt ro d uce d by March 2012.