On June 05, the vessel N4K Ericia will arrive from Japan with 15 vehicles for transshipment and Asian Sun will come on June 06 from Chennai with more than a thousand vehicles for transshipment, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) said.
The cars will be shipped to Algeria on June 15 by another vessel, Asian Legend.
The ports agency said congestion and delays at the main port in Colombo has lost it transshipment business and has also triggered higher freight charges for cars imported into the island.
In 2009 the Colombo port had transshipped 4,973 vehicles but it had fallen to 2,455 vehicles in 2010 and 993 vehicles in 2011.
Shipping firms had not been previously bring car transshipment business to Colombo because of delays and congestion and the lack of a dedicated terminal, the SLPA said.
The SLPA was now "vigorously campaigning" to make the Hambantota port a "preferred transshipment hub for vehicles" with incentives to shipping lines.
In addition SLPA said the prompt be