WHY NOT SRI LANKA? සිංහල

Starter Kit. Idea 258 of 500. Cluster 13

Boat-building in fibreglass and wood for the region, from the yards that already exist

Back to the idea

Written for this site as a starting point, not from the book. Rules and fees change: ask the bodies named below before you spend money.

The mechanism, from the book

An ocean eight times the size of the land, and a fishing fleet that sells its catch on the beach. The Maldives built a tourism industry on water Sri Lanka has more of.

The first step

Go to one of the existing boat yards and ask the owner for the cost and build time of a standard fishing hull and a small leisure boat. Then send photographs of finished work and that price to resort operators and fishing families in the Maldives, and ask for a request for a quote in writing. One formal enquiry from outside the island shows whether the yard can sell beyond its own beach.

Who pays first
A resort operator or fishing family in the Maldives who needs a sturdy hull delivered quickly and trusts a yard a short sail away.
What leaves today
The yards build for the local fleet only, so the regional demand for boats is met by yards in other countries.

Ask first

  • Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. Ask whether boats built for export need approval of the design.
  • Sri Lanka Export Development Board. Ask which buyers in the region have asked for fishing or leisure hulls.

Check before you spend

Whether your hull design meets the safety standard of the buying country, and who inspects and certifies each boat before it ships.

Find out these three numbers

  1. What does a standard fishing hull cost to build here?
  2. How long does one hull take from order to launch?
  3. Which buyers in the region would order after seeing photographs?

A comparison from the book

Zermatt. Chapter Five

"because those vehicles are made nearby, the money spent on them stays close to home"

Boats built in the island's own yards keep the money spent on them close to home.

The test

Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?

WITH500BUSINESS IDEASTO STARTTOMORROW

From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.