Colombo Port transshipments up by 19.8-pct in 1H; targets 7mn TEUs for 2018

July 22, 2018 (LBO) – Establishing a record in transshipment operations, the Colombo Port has witnessed the highest growth of 19.



8 percent in transshipment container throughput for the first half of 2018 as against the corresponding period in 2017.

During the first half of 2018, the Port of Colombo handled 2,733,906 TEUs of transshipment containers as against 2,281,636 TEUs handled in the corresponding period in 2017, Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) said. The state-owned Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) of SLPA has witnessed the highest growth of 20.6 percent in transshipment container throughput for the first half of 2018 against the corresponding period in 2017.



During the first half of 2018, the transshipment volume handled by Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) reached 935,848 TEUs compared to 776,002 TEUs handled for the same period in 2017. The Port of Colombo expects to reach the 7 million TEU target by the end this year, Sri Lanka Ports Authority said in a statement.





SLPA has signed an MOU with the terminals of the Colombo Port that include the state-owned JCT, the South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT) and the Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT) to operate collectively to promote the Port of Colombo. Expressing views the Chairman of SLPA Dr. Parakrama Dissanayake said that the terminals would compete with each other but would also co-operate with each other moving between competition and co-operation. “On the Asia to Europe sector there are 17 loops of which only 03 are calling Colombo,” Dissanayake said. “Therefore, obviously, we have got challenges to ensure that collectively we should attract more loops into the Port of Colombo. This means we have to go beyond the partisan approach of promoting our terminals to protect the Port of Colombo.



” According to internationally recognized global ranking indexes, the Colombo Port is positioned as the world's 23rd best container port and the 13th best connectivity port in the world at present. Following Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe assuming office as the Minister of Ports and Shipping, an exclusive 3-year plan was introduced to develop the entire port sector to establish Sri Lanka as the most preferred maritime gateway to South Asia.