Sri Lankan peace dividend pays off with creation of Projects FPS

Projects FPS (Pvt) Ltd will be incorporated to exclusively handle project logistics, heavy lifts and Customs brokering.

The new company will be under the same management headed by Gihan Nanayakkara, founder shareholder, Chairman and Managing Director.

Mr Nanayakkara says: "In the two years since the ending of the war in my country, it is clear that the atmosphere for business and infrastructure has improved. On our island, the peace dividend is most apparent in the rebuilding of our shattered infrastructure."

Sri Lanka embarked on huge infrastructure projects even before the war ended, with several highways, railways, power plants and high-rise buildings being built along with an airport and port in Hambantota and another port in Colombo. Hambantota port opened around two years ago and lies close to the main maritime trade route.

Mr Nanayakkara adds: "Given the rapidly growing post-war infrastructure development in Sri Lanka, and with a view to further strengthening the activities of FPS Sri Lanka in our growing market, it was decided to strategically focus our business into two segments: namely freight forwarding services in one company and project cargoes and heavy lifts in the second."

In Sri Lanka, while some major projects are under construction many more are in the pipeline with logistics contracts to ship the supplies required expected to be awarded right now.

From April 1, 2011 Famous Pacific Shipping Lanka (Pvt) Ltd will focus on the core business of groupage and consol, NVO and airfreight activity. Projects FPS (Pvt) Ltd will exclusively handle project logistics, heavy lifts and Customs brokering.

Senior management appointments

In order to allow the companies to serve their customers without interruption, senior management appointments have been made to guarantee continuity, says Mr Nanayakkara.

Famous Pacific Shipping Lanka (Pvt) Ltd will be headed by Roshan Paul as Head of Operations. Mr Roshan has 15 years of freight forwarding experience and joined FPS Lanka in 2006.

Sean Ramanathan joins as Sales Manager, after previously handling marketing for Deutsche Afrika-Linien GmbHand working as sales manager for Hellmann World Wide Logistics 

Projects FPS (Pvt) Ltd will be headed by Travis Meerwald as Head of Operations.

He has over 15 years of managerial experience in marine operations and project logistics. He will report to Mr Nanayakkara.

Mr MF Ibrahim will work as Head of Sales. With 20 years of sales and marketing experience, he joined FPS Lanka in 2000 as Imports Sales Manager. He will also report to Mr Nanayakkara.

Mr RH Sally will work as Head of Customs Brokerage. He specialises in procedural and statutory requirements, classification of items under Harmonized System Codes along with up-to-date knowledge of Customs duties / tariffs. He will report to Mr Meerwald.