The Board of Directors of Colombo International Container Terminals Ltd. (CICT) has announced that the company’s first Chief Executive Officer Mr Nelson Liu has been appointed Chairman effective 8th March 2016, and that the CEO position has been filled by Chief Operations Officer Mr Ray Ren.
The announcement said CICT will be spearheaded by Mr Liu, who in addition to being at the helm of CICT, also functions as the Overseas Operations Officer of China Merchants Holdings International (CMHI) the parent Company of CICT which is a major conglomerate based in Hong Kong involved in diversified areas of the maritime and transport industry ranging from managing terminals, cargo transportation and logistics park operations.
“Since its incorporation in August 2011, CICT has benefitted from Mr. Liu’s charismatic leadership as Chief Executive Officer,” the announcement said. “The successful accomplishment of the Public Private Partnership under Colombo Port Expansion Project and the commencement of commercial operations of CICT in July 2013 became a reality due to Mr Liu occupying the helm. His vision and guidance were contributing factors in CICT achieving highly acclaimed productivity and efficiency rankings and emerging as the best Deepwater Terminal in South Asia and also being recognised as the benchmark company in Sri Lanka’s terminal operations sector. His leadership created a strong legacy and geared the company to steer ahead to accomplish remarkable achievements in the industry.”
Mr Ray Ren who was appointed to the CEO position with Mr Liu’s elevation to the chairmanship of the company has, as Chief Operations Officer (COO) been instrumental in setting up of the entire terminal operations of CICT and sustaining them in line with the company’s objective of achieving service delivery excellence over a very short span of three years in the local industry, the announcement said. He was the driving force in introducing industry best practices and setting up the benchmarks for service delivery and port productivity for the South Asian Region more specifically for the handling of Ultra Large Container Carriers (ULCCs).
“Mr Ren has a wealth of experience in terminal operations and business management in his previous roles with the CMHI Group,” it added. “During his 12 year stint with Shekou Container Terminal, which handles an annual throughput of over 5 million TEUs, he led significant productivity improvement initiatives through project management and technical research. With his leadership that is backed by a breadth of business knowledge and experience, CICT will be further strengthening its position in the industry.”
CICT closed 2015 with an impressive 1.561 million TEUs, with the ULCC (Ultra Large Container Carrier) and VLCC (Very Large Container Carrier) segments making a 67% contribution to that volume. As a member of China Merchants Holdings International Company Limited (CMHI), the world’s second largest global terminal operator by throughput, which was awarded the Terminal Operator of the Year for 2015 by Lloyds in London, CICT has access to a wide network of 72 terminals operated and invested by CMHI across the globe, none of which are in any form of competition with the Port of Colombo. This is a unique advantage to boost the status and recognition of the port as a common user transshipment hub.
Photo caption: Mr Nelson Liu (left) and Mr Ray Ren.