Port records four million TEUs

With only ten days left to the year-end, the Colombo Port (POC) set a new record by handling four million Twenty foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) of containers yesterday.

This achievement of the Colombo Port is a synergistic effort of the state-run Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) and the privately-owned South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT).

SLPA Chairman Dr P B Wickrama, Managing Director Capt Nihal Keppetipola, Operations Director G A Thalagala and other officials at a ceremony held at the JCT to mark the event.

Recently, the state-run JCT single-handedly reached a record throughput of two million TEUs in eleven months and by this date the JCT has handled 2.1 million TEUs contributing the lion’s share to the overall volume of four million TEUs.

The remaining 1.9 million TEUs have been handled by the privately-owned SAGT.

The historic 4,000,000th container was discharged from the vessel M. V. MSC TIA in a modest ceremony held at the JCT in the presence of Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), SAGT and MSC officials yesterday.

SLPA Managing Director Capt Nihal Keppetipola said the Colombo Port has been showcasing its above-average efficiencies through the past few years and this rate of performance achieved for the first time in its history as a combined effort of its state-run and privately-owned terminals is of utmost significance to Sri Lanka which is heading towards becoming a major centre of maritime, trade, logistics, energy and knowledge related services.

“It is with a sense of great pleasure and pride, that I place on record the fact that the world’s second largest shipping line MSC which had abandoned the Colombo Port during that period in favour of other competing hub ports, was attracted back to the Colombo Port by the current management”, he said.

“With the shipping lines now having a choice between two efficiently run terminals, we are indeed privileged to discharge this record four millionth TEU from the vessel M. V. MSC TIA at JCT,” Capt Keppetipola said.

This upward growth trajectory bespeaks a manifestly futuristic outlook ahead of the Colombo Port and also sets an example for an ideal test case of Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) arrangements deployed in the Port Management area.

“The privately-owned SAGT and the state-run JCT have become contenders for each other thus ensuring fair competition as a motivating factor for both players to perform in good spirits,” he said.

With this total TEU handling of four million by the Port of Colombo which demonstrates an increase of 20 percent compared to the same period previous year, the Colombo Port also shows up an increase of 11 percent compared to the total figure of 3.68 million TEUs handled in 2008, the highest-ever performance rate recorded by the Port of Colombo, before recession hit global trade.

The state-run JCT also bagged another record recently by handling its highest-ever monthly volume of 201,217 TEUs in August this year achieving an increase of 22 percent compared to the month of August in 2009. The breakup of this four million TEUs handled by the Colombo Port, includes a 25 percent increase of local import/export TEUs and an 18 percent increase of transshipment TEUs over the corresponding period in 2009.