The cruise ship ‘Navigator of the Seas,’ under the agency of Prudential Shipping, called at the Hambantota International Port (HIP) for the purposes of receiving bunkers, marking another significant milestone in the diversity of the vessels calling HIP for bunkering.
Bunkering is an important part of HIP’s energy services portfolio. Different categories of vessels calling at the port for this service is another step in the port coming closer to establishing itself as a strategic bunker supply location on the main East West shipping route. This vessel is also the first passenger vessel to arrive at the port since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The vessel, sailing under the Bahamian flag whose last port of call was Port Said, Egypt, is en route to Yeosu, South Korea. The vessel had a crew of 217, but there was no disembarkation at the Hambantota Port as per COVID protocol.
HIPG COO Tissa Wickramasinghe said the port had already launched the wholesale supply of marine bunker fuels.
“In order to further develop HIP as a competitive marine bunker supply location, we entered into a strategic partnership with Sinopec Fuel Oil Lanka Ltd. (SFOL) to provide bunkering services as a wholesale exporter and also service vessels calling HIP as a value-added service. Sinopec with its vast resources guarantees the supply of VLSFO in Hambantota currently and MGO in the near future, enabling the port to service all vessels plying the principal sea route in the Indian Ocean.”
(FT)