APL container ship

Container shipping line APL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), has named its new 4259-TEU ship the ‘APL Sri Lanka', and has deployed the vessel on its China India Express (CIX) service, Sri Lanka's Daily Mirror reported.

CIX is a weekly service connecting East Asia to the ports of Nhava Sheva, India's largest port, and Colombo.

"I am delighted that APL has taken an initiative to christen their latest 4259-TEU vessel with the name of my mother country," said Sri Lanka Port Authority chairman Priyath B Wickrama at a ceremony to announce the naming.

"Words might fail me in expressing the pride that we Sri Lankans enjoy when a vessel named after our motherland sails across the oceans," he added.

Dr Wickrama also told reporters that the Joint War Committee (JWC) of Lloyds of London had removed Sri Lanka from its list of war-risk areas.