Colombo Port Reaches 6.2 Mn Container Mark
In December 2017, Sri Lanka’s Port of Colombo reached 6.2 million containers for the first time in the port’s history.
The port recorded a 16.4% year-over-year increase in its total container throughput as it handled 564,155 TEUs in January 2018, compared to 484,866 TEUs seen in the corresponding month a year earlier.
In addition, container volumes at the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) controlled terminals rose by 24.8% to 194,688 TEUs in January 2018.
Transshipment operations at the Port of Colombo also showed a 20.4% YOY increase. Together with the Jaya Container Terminal (JCT), South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) and the Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT), the Port of Colombo recorded 436,303 transshipment TEU operations in January this year, against 362,451 TEUs reported in the same month of 2017.
The number of containerships, conventional cargo vessels, other cargo vessels and ships for repairs and bunkering also increased to 388 vessels in January 2018 from 339 in the same period of 2017.
The port’s January figures show that a total of 332 contained vessels called at the Port of Colombo, against 304 boxships a year earlier.
SLPA has prepared a three-year development plan in an effort to further increase container volumes. These developments are aimed at making Colombo the maritime center in Asia, according to the port authority.
