Colombo Port handles record volume:

Highest monthly container throughput

The Colombo Port marked the ever highest monthly container throughput in March this year. It handled a record volume of 360,801 TEUs (Twenty foot Equivalent Units) Sri Lanka Ports Authority said.

This is an increase of 21.1 percent compared to the total container throughput of the Colombo Port for the corresponding period last year which was 297,911 TEUs.

As a result, the first quarter volumes of Colombo this year have risen to 993,166 TEUs from 779,604 TEUs, the corresponding figure for the previous year.

With the ever highest monthly container throughput being recorded for March this year, the Port of Colombo has marked a growth rate of 27.4 percent, showing signs of an economic boom in the immediate future.

Meanwhile, compared to the monthly container throughput for March last year by Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), which was 154,527 TEUs, it has recorded a container throughput of 178,808 TEUs in March this year reaching a growth rate of 15.7 percent in comparison to the same period of both years.

During the recent past SLPA attracted several international container lines and cruise lines, with the promising potentialities of the current developmental procedures to extend fast and efficient services in all sectors of port operations amidst the ongoing mega port construction projects in the country aiming greater future prospects not only for Sri Lanka but also for the maritime activities of the entire South-Asian region.

The SLPA has embarked on a number of mega development projects aiming at capacity expansion and other state-of-the-art technological requirements with a view to making SLPA on par with the top notch ports in the world.

Expressing views of the present developments at SLPA at a recent discussion, the SLPA Chairman Dr. Priyath B. Wickrama said, “during the first quarter of 2010 our volumes are up 20 percent compared to the corresponding period in the previous year. We attracted several container and cruise lines in the recent past.

I firmly believe that our service is the major order qualifying and the order winning criteria and the shippers have placed great confidence in it,” he said. “Our business is very competitive and in competitive business there is no time for complacency. We are determined to offer our clients an unsurpassed service that none can match in the region,” the Chairman said.