GAC Marine Services (Pvt) Ltd (“GAC Marine Services”), a GAC Sri Lanka company has successfully carried out its first ship supply operation off the port of Hambantota in early January 2015. As the agent for MOL Tanker Management (Asia) Private Limited, GAC Marine Services arranged for a crew change on the Panama-flagged crude oil tanker ‘RAYSUR’, without the vessel having to stop or divert significantly from its course, whilst en route from Ruwais, Saudi Arabia to Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

GAC Marine Services has been pioneering ship supply services in the international waters off Galle, the southernmost tip of Sri Lanka since 1993. In addition to standard crew changes and delivery of stores or provisions, the service has played a key role in saving lives, through medical evacuations, and preventing onboard disasters by arranging urgent delivery of spares or equipment.

“This was our first off port limit call off Hambantota,” says GAC Marine Services’ General Manager, Navin Perera. “However, we were able to draw on more than 20 years’ experience of such operations from our base in Galle, close to international shipping lanes connecting the Far East with the rest of the world. The officer can now board the vessel from either Galle or Hambantota, depending on the route of the vessel, and sign off after completing the handing over process in either Hambantoa OPL or Galle OPL with no delay to the movement of the vessel. This is just one more way in which GAC helps its shipping customers save time and money”.

Source: http://island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=119416