By Devan Daniel
A logistics expert said Sri Lanka’s removal from the Lloyds list for terrorism risk can give the country’s tourism industry a bigger boost, with far more benefits than to shipping lines calling over to the Port of Colombo.
Earlier this month, the Joint War Committee (JWC) of Lloyds of London has removed Sri Lanka from a war risk insurance list. Since the war ended in May 2009, the government has been lobbying for the removal of Sri Lanka from the ‘Hull War, Strikes, Terrorism and Related Perils Listed Areas’.
In a revision on March 11 this year, the JWC retained Sri Lanka in its war risk area list, the second Asian country with Pakistan to be ‘stigmatised’. In its latest review dated June 9, 2010, the committee has deleted Sri Lanka from this list, leaving Pakistan to stand alone as a war risk area in Asia.
To be listed on ‘Hull War, Strikes, Terrorism and Related Perils Listed Areas’ meant that shipping lines had to pay higher premiums on insurance policies, which could deter some lines making calls at the destination port. According to industry experts, some lines had stayed away from Sri Lanka.
"Even though we remained on the list for a little more than a year after the war ended, shipping lines knew our waters were safe, they continued to call on Colombo and our exporters and importers were not badly affected on account of being on list which only served to stigmatise the country," Rohan Masakorala, Senior Consultant Port and Aviation, Strategic Enterprise Management Agency, told The Island Financial Review.
"Now that Sri Lanka is off the list, it would reduce premiums for shipping lines but the biggest benefit of being taken off the list is that the tourism sector can be given a tremendous boost, particularly in the leisure cruise sector," he said.
During the 30-year war and during the period in which Sri Lanka was on Lloyds’ list for terrorism risk, passenger ships had to pay high premiums for just passing through Sri Lankan waters, let alone stopping-over on the island.
"Now that the stigma is lifted we should work hard to attract leisure cruise operators to Sri Lanka, where the island could be marketed for short stopovers for about a day or two. The opportunities are tremendous and work on this must start soon," Masakorala said.
He said the government was targeting the leisure cruise sector and was looking at the possibilities of constructing budget ports in Galle and Hambantota.
source - www.island.lk
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