The volume of containers shipped via Sri Lanka’s Port of Colombo expanded nearly 3 percent year-over-year in 2013, driven largely by a turnaround in transshipment business, according to data released by the Sri Lankan Ports Authority.
Total container throughput was estimated at 4.31 million 20-foot-equivalent units, up from 4.19 million TEUs in 2012.
Transshipment volume, which has long been Colombo’s cargo mainstay, jumped 4.7 percent from a year earlier to 3.21 million TEUs.
SLPA currently manages four terminals — state-owned Jaya Container Terminal and Unity Container Terminal, as well as DP World’s South Asia Gateway Terminal and the newly commissioned Colombo International Container Terminal, a joint venture between China Merchant Holdings International and SLPA.
CICT, the first phase of the Colombo South Terminal Project, began commercial operations in August 2013. The new facility will have three berths with a total quay length of 1,200 meters (3,937 feet) and an annual throughput capacity of 2.4 million TEUs when fully developed.
The Journal of Commerce