South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT), the first Public Private Partnership Container Terminal in Sri Lanka, won the Platinum award at the inaugural National Logistics and Transport Awards organized by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Sri Lanka (CILTSL).
The prestigious event was held on 17th July at The Kingsbury. Hon. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe graced the occasion as the Chief Guest while Hon. Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, Nimal Siripala de Silva attended as the Guest of Honor. Hon. State Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs Dr. Harsha de Silva also attended the event while CILT International President Elect, Dato’ Ts Abd Radzak Abd Malek, and CILT International Professional Development Coordinator Jon Harris attended representing CILT International.
SAGT won the top award in the Corporate – Large scale category from the best in the industry.
Upon receiving the award from Hon. Minister, Mr. Upul Jinadasa, General Manager Operations of SAGT commented that “Team SAGT has been globally recognized for its performance excellence on multiple occasions. However, this award is very special to us.
As you know SAGT partnered with SLPA in 1999 and set sail on a new journey towards transforming local maritime industry. We faced many challenges, commercial, operational, security and even life-threatening situations since our inception. We were able to work together with all stakeholders involved in the industry and conquer all these challenges to keep the industry from growing. Team SAGT is very proud to have contributed immensely towards building the local maritime industry what we see today. This National recognition is very special to us because it comes from the very same community we have been serving passionately since our inception. I wish to thank the CILT Sri Lanka and the Judges for awarding us this prestigious award. We are honored and inspired by this award and will continue to serve towards ‘Empowering Sri Lanka’s Hub Aspirations”.
SAGT’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Romesh David also commented that “SAGT played a key role in establishing the Port of Colombo as a pre-eminent gateway hub in South Asia and we will continue to nurture this aspiration in the future too.” He also congratulated all the winners and commended CILT Sri Lanka for laying the foundation for a platform which recognizes the contribution of organizations in the Logistics and Transport industry to the Sri Lankan economy.
SAGT has attracted multiple independent globally recognized “best practice” awards consecutively in the recent past; Ranked #1 in South Asia and #4 in the world for Terminal Productivity by the Journal of Commerce (JoC) USA in 2015, ranked #1 in the Indian Subcontinent by the Global Ports Forum (GPF) Singapore in 2016/17 and 2018 and awarded Best Employer Brand at The Sri Lanka Best Employer Brand Awards 2017.
