ECONOMYNEXT – Container handling at Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port grew 15.6 percent in the first half of 2018, which was the fastest in the World according to an international ranking, Sri Lanka Ports Authority said.
SLPA said Alphaliner, a shipping publisher had ranked Colombo as the fastest growing port, ahead of Singapore at 11.6 percent, Guangzhou at 8.6 percent, Antwerp 8.3 percent, the SLPA said.
Colombo’s growth is closely linked to the growth on India and her external trade. Colombo volumes weaken when India’s growth slows.
Colombo’s Chinese built terminal had been a key driver of volume growth in recent years.
"Recently the three terminal operators at the Port of Colombo; the Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) under SLPA, the South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) and the Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) reached into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to operate collectively to promote the Port of Colombo," SLPA said.
SLPA is now chaired by Parakrama Dissanayake, an industry veteran.
"Under the new collective agreement, it is expected to minimize the total turnaround time of all container vessels.
"Further, through the new agreement, terminals will also be able to promote the Port of Colombo collectively and collaboratively in the arena of international maritime business."
Up to June transshipment volumes at Colombo grew at a blistering 20 percent from a year earlier to 2.695 million containers, with June volumes growing 23.6 percent to 471,881.
Domestic container handling grew 1.3 percent to 681,393 with 6-month volumes down 1.4 percent to 110,089. (Colombo/Sept10/2018)