South Asia Gateway Terminals (Pvt) Ltd (SAGT), Sri Lanka’s first Public Private Partnership Container Terminal was awarded a certificate of merit in the Project Awards category at the Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Awards 2023 of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. Team SAGT was recognized for their strides in the groundbreaking project of converting 22 Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes (RTG’s) from diesel to hybrid resulting in 25% reduction in overall carbon emissions.
Following the formalization of the sustainability performance tracking mechanism, SAGT identified that 61% of its scope 1 carbon footprint was a direct result of RTG utilization. To curtail the RTG carbon footprint SAGT retrofitted 22 of its RTG’s with hybrid technology consisting of a battery bank and a lower capacity genset. The presence of the battery bank has reduced the engine’s daily utilization resulting in fuel savings and reduced engine maintenance cost. The project contributed to a 51% reduction in RTG diesel consumption in 2022/23 in comparison to the previous financial year.
SAGT was a pioneer in the region to conduct a hybrid conversion project of RTG’s. To eliminate risks due to the largely untested nature of the technology, two machines were retrofitted with the hybrid system as a pilot project and closely monitored for 6 months. The project gave the opportunity for SAGT employees to work with state-of-the-art novel technology providing opportunities to upskill.
Commenting on the certificate of merit, Sandun Edirisinghe, General Manger – Engineering stated “when we embarked on the pilot project in 2019, we experimented with untested cutting-edge technology. Today, almost four years down the line we have 22 RTG’s running on hybrid technology contributing significantly to our carbon footprint improvements. SAGT is committed to achieving net zero by the IMO mandated 2050 target and we are focusing our efforts on integrating state-of-the-art technology and leveraging energy efficient infrastructure to reach our goals”.
South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT), Sri Lanka’s first Public Private Partnership container terminal commenced operations in 1999 with a vision to be the most trusted Gateway in the Indian ocean. Built on a foundation of Teamwork, Safety, Trust and Integrity, Customer Centricity & Excellence, SAGT presents the international trading community a competitive best in class service. A pioneer in sustainable terminal operations, SAGT continues to steer course for a sustainable future. Promoting “Ease of doing business” through digitalization and digitization is an integral part of SAGT’s DNA. SAGT is a recipient of multiple independent globally recognized “best practice” awards since inception.
SAGT is a Board of Investment flagship company whose shareholders include – John Keells Holdings, Maersk/APM Terminals, SLPA and Evergreen Marine Corporation.
