CEO of Solomon Islands Port Authority joins IAPH board with mandate until 2023 Annual General Meeting
IAPH is pleased to announce that Eranda Kotelawala, CEO of Solomon Islands Ports Authority, was elected as vice-president for the Southeast Asia and Oceania region following a vote of confidence.
Eranda Kotelawala has been CEO of Solomon Ports Authority since 2017, which includes the two main ports and terminals of Honiara and Noro. Prior to his current role, Eranda was Chief Operating Officer of Fiji Ports Corporation Limited, which included the ports of Suva, Lautoka, Levuka, Malau, and Wairiki between 2015-2017. Eranda completed his master’s degree at Aberdeen Business School in Scotland, and then further specialised in business process re-engineering, obtaining a broad range of experience in in this field at a number of international ports. This included positions as a senior consultant to Transnet Port Authority in Durban, South Africa and the Port of Sultan Qaboos in Oman.
Solomon Islands Ports Authority were recently recipients of the IAPH 2022 Sustainability Award for Community Building at the IAPH World Ports Conference in Vancouver , with a project to support rural communities by providing renewable energy for those who previously could not access any form of energy across the Islands. Five communities have already become the first recipients of our initiative, with lighting for streets, a school, a market and a community hall to over a hundred families. More communities have already been identified for this initiative across all the nine provinces, and the team will be implementing more installations in the coming year.
Eranda commented : “A key challenge we face in the Pacific Islands is the use of renewable energy to reduce our overall energy costs which are very high. Despite the projects being relatively small in nature at this stage, the effort and drive is very much progressive and ambitious.”
Eranda succeeds Jay Daniel R. Santiago, general manager of the Philippine Ports Authority, who completed his mandate last summer. Based on the provisions of the IAPH Constitution, Eranda’s mandate is foreseen until the IAPH 2023 Annual General Meeting, at which time a new Board will be installed, following a general election to be held in spring 2023.
News story contact :
Victor Shieh, Communications Director – IAPH : victor.shieh@iaphworldports.org
About IAPH
Founded in 1955, the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) has developed into a global alliance of 169 port authorities, including many of the world’s largest port operators as well as 134 port-related businesses. Comprised of 87 different nationalities across the world’s continents, member ports handle approximately one third of the world’s sea-borne trade and well over 60% of the world container traffic. With its NGO consultative status recognized by the IMO, ECOSOC, ILO, UNCTAD, UNEP, and WCO, IAPH leads global port industry initiatives on decarbonization and energy transition, risk and resilience management, and accelerating digitalization in the maritime transport chain. Its World Ports Sustainability Program has grown into the reference database of best practices of ports applying the UN Sustainable Development Goals and integrating them into their businesses.