H'tota vehicle imports plan delayed till May

Plans to channel vehicle imports through Hambantota have been deferred by two months to May, Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Dr. Priyath Wickrama said. In an interview with the Business Times, he noted that they would not be commencing operations from March as stated previously.

This was mainly because the letters of credit (LCS) were already opened by some importers for Colombo, he said. In this regard, they would be provided suf- ficient time to address these issues in addition to shifting their operations to Hambantota, Dr. Wickrama said. But officials of the motor industry that is impacted due to this told the Business Times that they were currently facing problems related to insurance as these imported vehicles would have to be ferried by road with no insurance cover.

In this respect they point out that the insurance costs would definitely result in an increase in vehicles as well. Currently marine insurance cover for these unregistered vehicles range be-

Responding to questions of the possibility of vehicle prices rising, he said it was inevitable. The SLPA chairman also pointed out that they would provide a "good solution" for vehicle importers at Hambantota that would be announced in March.

tween Rs.15 - 20,000 but nothing has been finalized yet for road insurance. Further, it was pointed out that car carriers could transport only about eight cars at any given time.

Importers noted that one ship- ment would contain nearly 1500 vehicles, giving rise to the question of the availability of adequate number of car carriers to transport these goods. Dr. Wickrama pointed out however, that there were "enough car carriers in the world" and they could be used but that the SLPA has nothing to do with assisting with the supply of car carriers. Responding to questions of the possibility of vehicle prices rising, he said it was inevitable.

The SLPA chairman also pointed out that they would provide a "good solution" for vehicle importers at Hambantota that would be announced in March. However, he noted that importers could also have their vehicles shipped to the Colombo port, but these need to be moved out within 24 hours.