Delmege Marketing (Pvt) Limited, a member of the Delmege Forsyth group of companies specializing in wholesale and retail distribution, has been appointed the new national distributor here for Milgro milk powder, a company news release said.

This brand which is owned by a Malaysian company, Pacific Inter-Link, which is a diversified business house whose activities include trading, manufacturing, shipping and marketing of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) etc currently servicing over 50 global markets.

Dinesh Nalliah, CEO of Delmege Marketing, said that the milk powder used for Milgro brand is sourced exclusively from New Zealand.

Delmege is one of Sri Lanka’s oldest established companies founded in 1850 which has been in the distribution business for several decades.

Milgro is currently exported to over 25 countries with the brand entering the Sri Lanka market six years ago.

Delmege is a leader in the distribution of fast moving consumer goods with an islandwide distribution network with a comprehensive reach.

The group’s other FMCG subsidiary, Delmege Distributors, represents a number of global brands and also markets many well known local brands such as Delmege canned fish, Motha, Delmege tea, Delmege bottled water, Delmege Soya, Delmege essence and colourings, and Delmege noodles etc.

Nalliah said that the addition of Milgro milk to their portfolio through Delmege Marketing will further enhance their product portfolio.Sri Lanka prohibits ship breaking

Sri Lanka has ruled out ship breaking as an industry under its efforts to promote the island as a maritime hub, going against the trend in the region, according to a new national port and shipping policy.

The policy, the draft of which was released this week, cited environmental concerns and lack of tidal differences for the decision.

Previous shipping policies have mentioned ship breaking as one of the maritime sector industries that could be promoted to take advantage of the island’s geographical position close to international shipping routes.

However, no ship breaking activity emerged on the island, in sharp contrast to Sri Lanka’s neighbours, especially India and Bangladesh, which have become the dumping ground for that part of the world’s shipping fleet that needs to be scrapped.

Ship breaking in India and Bangladesh has generated much controversy because of environmental pollution problems as well as worker safety concerns.

The ship breaking yards have become notorious for poor safety standards which regularly result in the deaths of workers or serious injury.

Shipping industry officials said workers safety was one of the concerns taken into consideration in the decision to ban ship breaking.

The new draft policy said that ship demolition work has much potential as large numbers of vessels are being sold for scrap and because developed nations are reluctant to allow ship breaking on their coasts.

Developed countries have had to face pressure from the public as well as environmental groups to discourage ship breaking, considered dirty and dangerous work.

The draft policy stressed that the Sri Lankan government will not encourage ship breaking.

"Ship breaking is known to create environmental pollution, including oil pollution," the draft policy said.

"The lack of significant tidal differences on the coasts of Sri Lanka does not facilitate ease of handling of ship breaking activities."

The policy also said the island’s coast have to be protected for the development of the tourism industry.