Coal unloading at the Norochcholia power plant is continuing without interruption even as another shipment from term-tender supplier Trident Chemphar has been flagged as substandard, the Sunday Times reports.
Shipment 17, procured under emergency tender from Indian supplier Taranjot Resources, was being discharged on Friday, official sources said. A Trident vessel is in anchorage at the Norochcholai outer harbour, with another scheduled to arrive on May 12. Authorities are no longer keeping to the standard five-day unloading cycle, with one recent vessel taking eight days because of ocean swells.
Shipment 16 from Trident, brought in from Indonesia, has also tested off-specification, sources told the paper. That brings the total number of consignments confirmed substandard by independent accredited laboratory Cotecna to five — adding to the earlier reports of failed test results that triggered the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry into coal procurement.
The continued offloading of off-spec coal underscores the operational dilemma facing the Ceylon Electricity Board: with Lakvijaya the country’s largest single power source and reservoir levels under pressure, plant operators have prioritised maintaining stockpiles ahead of the inter-monsoon period over rejecting non-conforming shipments. The procurement contracts and lab failures are expected to feature in SPCI testimony scheduled for Tuesday, when senior officials are due to give statements at Hulftsdorp.
Trident Chemphar’s term tender has been the subject of multiple lab-failure reports since the audit-led inquiry began. Taranjot’s emergency tender was awarded in March 2025 to bridge supply during the standoff over the Trident contract. Bureau Veritas results on overall coal quality remain pending.
