Port of Colombo Hits Five Million Containers Mark

Sri Lanka’s Port of Colombo has handled five million containers so far this year, for the first time in the port’s history.

The port of Colombo has handled 4.7 million TEUs during the first eleven months of 2015, reflecting an increase of 5.9% compared to the previous year’s corresponding volume 4.4 million TEUs.

Transshipment containers, including re-stow throughput, which accounts for 76.6% of the total Colombo volume, has achieved a growth of 5.1%. The domestic volume has also recorded an increase of 8.3%.

Colombo saw an increase of 13.1% in ship arrivals during the first eleven months of 2015 to 3,854, compared with 3,409 in the same period in 2014.

The number of container ships has also increased from 2,957 in 2014 to 3,333 in 2015, representing an increase of 12.7%, while conventional cargo vessel arrivals have increased by 80%, from 25 to 45.

Other cargo ships, such as liquid bulk and Ro-Ro, have increased by 9.5%, from 328 to 359.

The total cargo tonnage handled in the port of Colombo during the first eleven months of 2015 has increased to 67,255 thousand tones from previous year’s 64,726 thousand tones, reflecting an increase of 3.9%.

A large increase of 96.1% has been reported in break bulk cargo handling, while the port saw an increase of 3.5% in containerized cargo.

Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) plans to upgrade the port of Colombo in the near future by making it more operation friendly by adding new operations machinery and increased terminal facilities.