A shipment of 14 Lamborghinis has been routed through Sri Lanka on its way to the Gulf, in what Daily Mirror reports as an early sign that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is pushing high-value cargo onto alternative corridors.
The cars, built in Italy, arrived by sea at Hambantota Port several days ago. They were loaded into seven 40-foot containers and trucked to Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake, where they are to be transferred to a large cargo aircraft for onward carriage to Dubai and Doha. The aircraft is scheduled to leave Katunayake on Friday morning.
A representative of the Danish company handling the shipment said the route could bring economic benefits to Sri Lanka by opening an alternative logistics corridor at a time when traditional routes have been disrupted by regional instability.
The consignment is a valuable one. Daily Mirror put the range at roughly Rs. 100 million for some of the sports cars up to about Rs. 500 million for the most expensive models.
Journalists turned away at the Cargo Village
The operation came with a restriction that the newspaper said was unusual for a commercial cargo movement.
Journalists who travelled to Katunayake to cover the transfer said airport authorities initially gave them the assistance they needed. Officials of SriLankan Airlines working in the export section of the Cargo Village then refused permission for media coverage and asked the journalists to leave the area.
Daily Mirror reported that members of the public gathered around the operation were meanwhile seen photographing and filming the vehicles on their mobile phones, while accredited journalists were denied access.
The newspaper said the episode raised questions over why media personnel were kept from reporting on an international cargo operation that the government might be expected to promote — one that points to a role for Sri Lanka’s ports and airports in handling high-value freight while Gulf routes remain disrupted.
Neither SriLankan Airlines nor the airport operator had publicly explained the decision at the time of reporting.
Context
The Strait of Hormuz carries a large share of the world’s seaborne energy trade and a substantial volume of container traffic to and from the Gulf. Its closure amid the ongoing conflict has forced shippers to look for ways around the chokepoint, including sea-to-air transfers of the kind performed at Katunayake this week.
The story was reported by T.K.G Kapila for Daily Mirror. No other verified newsroom had carried it at the time of writing.
