Page 6 - SAGT Sustainability Report 2021
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4 SOUTH ASIA GATEWAY TERMINALS (PVT) LTD
CEO’S
MESSAGE
Dear Stakeholder, the impacts of the global pandemic on our current and emerging issues and their impact
customers’ business and the Sri Lankan on the business, society, and environment.
We are pleased to present the second economy.
sustainability report published by SAGT, Stakeholder engagement is an equally
demonstrating our commitment to drive and In this backdrop of chaos and uncertainty important priority in furthering our
instil responsible and sustainable business around the world, the manner in which Team sustainability agenda. With the prevailing
practices in the Company. SAGT and our stakeholders rallied together pandemic creating a paradox, where people
to respond to this global emergency with were connecting more whilst maintaining
For over two decades, SAGT has been at resilience, innovation and a natural willingness physical distance, SAGT stepped up to the
the forefront of embracing new possibilities to care for colleagues whilst serving our
and raising the bar for terminal operators customers and contributing meaningfully to
in the South Asian region. In publishing help society respond and recover, is a matter
our sustainability report for the second of immense pride, confidence and a testament
consecutive year, SAGT continues to establish to the spirit of living our values.
our commitment to be an industry benchmark
not only in Sri Lanka but also the region. SUSTAINABILITY AS A FULLY
INTEGRATED BUSINESS PRIORITY
The Financial Year (FY) 2020/21 was a year
like no other. As COVID-19 began to spread Even as urgent priorities of the pandemic and
rapidly across the world, modern life as we our business transformation have kept us
knew it to be, almost came to a standstill. busy in recent months, sustainability remained
Whilst, air traffic was suspended, many at the top of our agenda. Reinforcing our
land borders and road networks around the commitment and support to the principles of
world were shut to curtail the spread of the the United Nations Sustainable Development
pandemic. Shipping lanes, sea-trade routes Goals (SDGs), we continued our efforts
and ports however, remained open and to integrate sustainability within our wider
became an even more critical link to facilitate business strategy and objectives. During the
the distribution of essential goods around the period of review, we especially focused our
world. efforts towards Goal 04 Quality Education,
Goal 05 Gender Equality, Goal 08 Decent work
The Port of Colombo continued to deliver on and economic growth, Goal 13 Climate Action,
its promise of being the primary transhipment Goal 14 Life below water and Goal 15 Life on
hub port in the South Asian region. All terminal land. To further strengthen our commitment
operators in the Port of Colombo very quickly and enhance results, we aspire to set elevated
redesigned and re-calibrated operations internal targets for our key sustainability goals.
from April 2020 onwards to ensure the port
offered uninterrupted services to its users SAGT’s Sustainability Strategy, developed
in support of the global efforts to manage in 2018 outlines four fundamental priorities
the pandemic. In this respect, the initial and that are key in navigating us through our
ongoing leadership provided by the Sri Lanka journey towards achieving our vision of being
Ports Authority to all operators in the Port a sustainable, resilient, and trusted terminal
of Colombo, when many ports around the partner. These fundamental priorities are;
world were faltering, is noteworthy and highly
commendable. 1. Environment Stewardship
During the financial year in review too, SAGT 2. Enabling work environment focusing on
continued to achieve a throughput beyond well-being, Health &Safety and Security
its original design capacity of 1.1million TEUs
(Twenty-foot Equivalent Units), handling an 3. Social Responsibility
annual throughout of 1.8 million TEUs. This
volume was however an 11% decline from 4. Governance
the previous year, mainly stemming from
Given the constantly evolving external
landscape, we regularly review and update
our Material Topics to take cognizance of both
