Colombo Port aims to handle 7 m containers in 2018: Samarasinghe

Tuesday, 20 March 2018 00:07 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port expects to handle 7.0 million containers in 2018, up 12.9% from the 6.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) handled in 2017 with joint marketing by three terminals, Ports and Shipping Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said.

The minister said the Jaya Container Terminal of the state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), South Asia Gateway Terminal of the John Keells Holdings and Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) of China’s CM Ports have inked a deal to jointly promote the port.

“Although the three terminals compete separately and individually, now they can work on a collaborative mission to operate vessels calling at the Port of Colombo,” Samarasinghe said.

In 2017 Colombo’s container volumes including transhipment and domestic grew 8.3% to reach 6.2 million TEUs.

Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Dr. Parakrama Dissanayake said Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port handled 564,155 containers in January, up 16.4% from a year earlier.

Under the collaboration deal, waiting time for all container vessels arriving at the Colombo Port will be minimised by allowing vessel to be accommodated at the earliest available terminal in addition to collaborative promotion of the port.

In 2017, the Colombo Port moved up two places to become the 25th busiest container port.

Samarasinghe said that it was commendable to witness the Colombo Port had achieved great feats through public-private collaboration.

Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event including Valentine ’s Day. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Flower Bouquets, Clothing, Watches, Lingerie, Gift Sets and Jewellery. Also if you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.