Colombo Dockyard lays foundation stone to build fully-fledged engineering workshop
The Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Embassy in UAE and the Sri Lanka Consulate General in Dubai made arrangements to organize Sri Lanka participation at 30th edition of the Dubai International Boat Show (DBIS) held from February 28, March 3, 2024 in Dubai, UAE.
The Boat and Ship Building sector has been identified as an emerging export sector which offers a wide variety of products and services to the international market. The sector uses advanced materials and technologies to be on par with global counterparts aligned with sustainable manufacturing.
The increasing demand for boats worldwide, regional and local for fishing, industrial, commercial and leisure purposes open up huge opportunities and new markets for Sri Lanka, due to its strategic location, highly trainable workforce and the labour cost advantage.
The government having identified the importance and the potential of the development of the sector has made arrangements to strengthen the marketing, promotion and branding initiatives of the industry parallelly to enhance the national and international recognition of the Sri Lankan Boat industry.
Therefore, in order to raise the awareness on the potential of the industry, EDB initiated a number of promotional programmes for the Sri Lanka Boat Building industry to increase the national and international visibility of the Sri Lankan Boating industry.
Accordingly, EDB co-organize the Boat & Marine Show Sri Lanka with the relevant stakeholders biennially and organized Sri Lanka country pavilions at the world premier boat shows such as Genoa Boat Show – Italy and Dusseldorf Boat Show, Germany.
In continuing these efforts, EDB organized a Sri Lanka Country Pavilion at the DBIS with objectives of enhancing the international visibility of Sri Lanka Boat Building/Marine Industry, gaining knowledge on market trends, new products, competitor intelligence, latest technology available etc. and establishing business contacts with boat and marine venders across the world.
DIBS is the largest and most established boat show in the UAE, GCC, and Middle East and serves as a platform for industry professionals, boat owners and potential buyers to network, build relationships and explore business opportunities.
The show featured an impressive display of boats and yachts from renowned manufacturers and shipyards worldwide. Also, it is expected to get maximum benefits of the seminars and discussions held parallels with leading industry experts on yacht brokerage, yacht charter, yacht transportation and delivery to update the knowledge Sri Lankan exhibitors attend at the show.
In this context, Sri Lankan participants received a precious opportunity to present capabilities of the Sri Lankan Boating industry at the seminar to be organized parallel to the DBIS. Accordingly, Shan Perera, CEO/ Director, Neil Fernando & Company (Pvt) Ltd and Gayathri Amarasinghe, Manager, Sales and Administration, Dhanusha Marine Lanka Exports (Pvt) Ltd presented Sri Lankan competencies on “Sri Lanka’s competitive position in the Boating Industry”