The Sri Lanka Ports Authority is to borrow US$6.3 million from the state-owned Bank of Ceylon to fund the acquisition of new cargo handling cranes from China, according to Lanka Bjusiness Online.
The equipment is urgently needed to replace aging cranes at the Jaya Container Terminal, the port's main container transhipment facility, where cargo handling operations are slowed down and ships delayed owing to breakdowns.
The port authority said it expects to boost its capacity at the JCT when the cranes, being made at the manufacturer ZPMC in China, arrive in the first quarter of next year.
It said it has struck a deal with the Bank of Ceylon to borrow the money considering the advantages of doing so in the local finance market on the instructions of the Treasury.
Sri Lanka has built up considerable foreign exchange reserves owing to heavy inflows of investments and remittances from migrant workers.
The port authority said it would buy one crane of 50 tonne capacity, two cranes of 41 tonne capacity and 24 rubber tyred gantry cranes of 41 tonne capacity.
The equipment is urgently needed to replace aging cranes at the Jaya Container Terminal, the port's main container transhipment facility, where cargo handling operations are slowed down and ships delayed owing to breakdowns.
The port authority said it expects to boost its capacity at the JCT when the cranes, being made at the manufacturer ZPMC in China, arrive in the first quarter of next year.
It said it has struck a deal with the Bank of Ceylon to borrow the money considering the advantages of doing so in the local finance market on the instructions of the Treasury.
Sri Lanka has built up considerable foreign exchange reserves owing to heavy inflows of investments and remittances from migrant workers.
The port authority said it would buy one crane of 50 tonne capacity, two cranes of 41 tonne capacity and 24 rubber tyred gantry cranes of 41 tonne capacity.