Sri Lanka is perhaps the foremost country in the world to react to anything from politics to economics, rather than act to prevent a crisis or exploit the opportunities. Terrorism, climate change and energy crisis are the three major problems faced by the world community, rich or poor, developed or developing countries.

As enough and more are being written and discussed on the first two problems, let us turn the search lights on energy crisis which is affecting every citizen in Sri Lanka. Scientists supported by Government and the business sector in countries across the globe from Brazil to Australia and including oil producing countries such as Iran are seeking to develop alternative sources of energy. Bio fuel is being increasingly used in Brazil even to drive motor vehicles. Recently a mixture of bio-fuel and jet fuel was used to fly successfully a jet plane as an experiment. Nuclear energy and wind power are other alternative sources of energy that are being used.

Coming down to earth and most relevant to Sri Lanka is an experimental voyage of the new cargo ship MS. Beluga Skysails from Germany to Venezuela assisted by sails. Time magazine and our own media highlighted the event with photographs of the ship sailing with computer controlled sails which were called a kite. Did our policy mandarins or the shipping community take notice of this and its potential use in Sri Lanka to save energy and valuable foreign exchange besides protecting the environment? I wonder. The recent experiment using MS. Beluga Skysails is nothing new. After all, for over a century sailing ships were used by globe trotters like Magellan, Captain Cook, Columbus and Vasco de Gama. Such ships were also used by the colonial powers to capture and rule empires on which the sun never set. Incidentally our famous lawyer Colvin R. De Silva quipped that the sun never set on the British Empire because the sun never trusted the British!

In more recent times, when the first major oil crisis occurred with a sudden sharp increase in prices consequent to the creation of OPEC Cartel, several major shipping lines experimented the use of sails in addition to the use of ships’ engines. That crisis caused a major recession in shipping and several thousands of cargo ships and tankers had to be laid up in harbours including Trincomalee. Incidentally we made use of the opportunity to earn additional foreign exchange from those ship owners.

However, once the world community learnt to live with the OPEC dictated oil prices the need to cut down the use of oil was forgotten. Fortunately, the current drive to search for alternative sources of energy is motivated and powered by the fear of climate change, need to protect the environment and finite resources of hydrocarbon staring in the face of the world community.

In our own little space on the planet, the focus is on the right royal battle being waged between power and energy policy mandarins and consumers. Use of alternative sources is not even in the back burner. For several decades alleged oil resources in our territorial waters gave hope to the people, but nothing more. We may or not find oil in volumes to justify heavy investment or commercial exploitation. There is no doubt however about the availability of natural wind power for ships to sail in our coastal trade.

For over a century sailing cargo ships were used profitably in the South Asian regional trade. Calicut tiles were among the products carried from Calcutta to Colombo. As was highlighted in an earlier article "shipping services for economic development of the north (Island 14/01/08) prudence demand early steps to be taken to organize an economically viable coastal shipping services connecting the ports of Colombo, Galle, Trincomalee and KKS. While trains and trucks cannot be powered with sails, coastal ships can use the wind power at no cost to our economy, besides contributing to a clean environment.

Many may not be aware that sailing ships or country crafts are transporting today cargo between India, Sri Lanka and Maldives. They are equipped with engines to be used if necessary in rough weather. These coastal ships with capacities ranging from 300-500 tons transport a wide range of products from cement, sugar and manufactured products such as pharmaceuticals. They are increasingly competitive with other ships. While other cargo ships keep on adding bunker surcharges to meet the rising cost of bunkers, country crafts maintain rate stability.

I wonder whether our policy mandarins are aware that current freight rate on cargo to KKS from Colombo is USD 78/- per freight ton, while the freight rate on cargo from Tuticorin to Colombo carried by country crafts is only USD 13/- for weight cargo like rice, sugar and USD 26/- for volume cargo like onions and chilies. Mind you, at the request of the Presidential Advisors SLPA provides free stevedoring services to ships carrying cargo to the North, in order to keep down the prices for the consumers.

These figures highlight not only the possible savings on freight cost to KKS, but also on bunkers consumed by ships which are currently transporting cargo from Colombo to KKS. By using country crafts for our coastal trade several benefits could be achieved besides keeping the prices for the consumers in the North at affordable levels. First such a service could facilitate our coastal trade by connecting the ports of Colombo, Galle, Trincomalee and KKS. On their outbound voyages they could carry cargo to the North and on the return voyages they could carry not only cargo from the North, but also flour from Trincomalee and even salt from Hambanthota to Colombo. Besides the savings on freight cost and oil imports, country crafts are ideal for training our sea farers including those in the Navy. Even developed countries like Germany and Japan use sailing ships to train their seafarers. Above all, while cargo ships costing millions of dollars are purchased from foreign countries, country crafts could be easily built locally providing both employment and developing a new industry. Currently an average size country craft built in India cost around Rs. 6 million due to the rising demand. India’s maritime policy includes the promotion of India’s coastal trade with such vessels. Trincomalee harbour is ideally situated to establish a boat building yard due to comparatively lower labour cost and the need to develop the economy in the Eastern region.

If all this is true and staring in the face of the policy mandarins, one might ask why they are immune to change and progress. Perhaps innovation is not their forte and it is safer

and easier to sail along. Colombo south port should have been completed three years ago and operational now. Sadly, today even the construction of the break water is held up due to a quarrel between two sets of bureaucrats. Ceylon shipping Corporations fleet remain at two container ships (down from 12) and built in the 1980’s. Currently futile and risky attempts are being made to buy multi million dollar container ships. Perhaps a fleet of country crafts is not very impressive even if more profitable. Private sector shipping community prefer to be providers of shipping services even in contravention of regulations by a few. Such contraventions are at the expense of country’s foreign exchange earnings. But it’s sadly lacking is enterprise, one sees in other sectors such as ship and boat builders, agriculture and garment industry. SLAVO too deserves to be blamed for this situation. Apparently their energy is being dissipated in a battle to avoid paying import duties on ships.

As one cannot expect the Shipping Ministry to move even one inch or do what is urgently required to reap the benefits of using sailing ships for our coastal trade, let us hope that other relevant ministries such as environment, consumer affairs and power and energy examine the feasibility for a start. By using wind powered sailing ships Sri Lanka could save foreign exchange on oil imports, facilitate expansion of coastal trade, develop a boat building industry, facilitate bi-lateral trade with Maldives and India besides creating additional employment opportunities.

An angry observer frustrated by the vanishing opportunities asked me ‘why throw pearls before swine’. Pretty harsh I thought.