Bunker fuel focus

Hambantota International Port said it broke new ground in 2021 with a large increase in bunkering by the end of the year.

”With the IMO pushing the maritime industry to reduce emissions, the port is geared to offer the best quality low sulphur fuels to the market, underlining its goal of positioning as a bunkering hub in South Asia,” said CEO Johnson Liu, CEO, HIP.

Green focus

The wholesale supply of marine bunker fuels is a partnership between HIP and Sinopec Fuel Oil Lanka Limited. With the port’s 14 tank oil storage network, oil jetties and ancillary infrastructure fully operational, Mr Liu said that HIP is now geared to provide VLSFO and MGO fuel bunkering services for vessels plying the principal sea routes in the Indian Ocean.

He pointed out that the port also established a marine oil testing laboratory at the oil tank facility, in collaboration with a renowned international partner. Thus, enabling the provision of international standards of quality at the supply source.

Over and above its bunkering offering, the port has a long-term vision for sustainable development and CSR management which it considers to be integral to acheiving its business objectives.

HIP completed over 14 CSR projects during 2021 with a pledge to set up a fund that will manage the human elephant conflict that has long troubled the Hambantota district. The project is a partnership with the Hambantota District Secretariat, which will collaborate with the Department of Wildlife to take mitigatory action for which HIPG will provide the funding.

Another important sustainability project launched by the port was its first integrated solid waste management initiative. The process covers the source, generation, segregation, transfer, sorting, treatment, recovery and disposal of waste in an integrated manner. The initiative also includes growing and nurturing endemic trees that will enrich the biodiversity of the industrial zone and port premises.