Maldives’ State shipping firm, Maldives State Shipping (MSS) has doubled its cargo carrying capacity this year in efforts for business expansion, the company said Tuesday.
MSS has strengthened its cargo operations between the Maldives and Sri Lanka after procuring a larger shipping vessel.
In an exclusive interview with PSM News, Managing Director Ahmed Shareef said the primary goal of the company this year was to minimise the over reliance on a particular country to transport cargo.
Noting that the goal has been achieved, Shareef said the company has expanded its fleet to increase its cargo carrying capacity.
"We have added 1,000 containers to our fleet. Containers are the most important part of carrying cargo. We can only increase our carrying capacity by adding more containers,” he explained.
MSS has put in a lot of effort to boost its cargo capacity through neighbouring Sri Lanka, as 90 percent of the goods arriving in the Maldives come through this route. That is the primary reason why the company has procured a larger ship to accommodate the demand for cargo transportation via this route, Shareef said.
"We are prioritising boosting the cargo capacity of the Sri Lankan route. We doubled the service last year. Previously, we used a 600 container vessel. However, now we have a 1,100 container vessel. This is an addition to the two existing ships on our fleet,” he said.
In addition to increasing its carrying capacity, MSS is working to upgrade its current fleet. The company said it will be looking for a new vessel next year.
This year, MSS in collaboration with the Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) and Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) has launched sea-to-air cargo service in the Maldives. Through this service, Maldives is brining cargo from countries in the region by sea and forwarding the goods to Europe by air.