Meanwhile, the Port of Colombo has witnessed the highest growth of 19.4% in transshipment container throughput for the first nine months in 2018 as against the corresponding period in 2017.During the first nine months of 2018, the Port of Colombo handled 4,206,630 TEUs of transshipment containers as against 3,522,521 TEUs handled in the corresponding period in 2017.
The Port of Colombo expects to reach the 7 million TEU target by the end this year. In a statement, Minister of Ports and Shipping Mahinda Samarasinghe added that the port would take new initiatives forward to promote the Port of Colombo internationally, together with all stake holders and to attract more new shipping lines that work in alliances.
Under the leadership of Minister of Ports and Shipping Mahinda Samarasinghe, and advice by the Chairman of Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Dr. Parakrama Dissanayake the positive increase at SLPA controlled terminal, Jaya Container Terminal (JCT), and Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT), and South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) collectively resulted in this increase.
The recognition of credibility towards the management has encouraged the employees of SLPA to dedicatedly contribute towards efficient service along with collaborative support by all parties and stakeholders engaged in the port operations to keep SLPA’s productivity at a steadily and sustainably increasing rate.Creating history, the Port of Colombo for the first time has recorded 6.2 million container operations in year 2017.
Following Minister Samarasinghe assuming office as the Minister of Ports and Shipping, an exclusive three year plan was introduced to develop the entire port sector to establish Sri Lanka as the most preferred maritime gateway to South Asia.The Port of Colombo is ranked as world’s No.1 container growth port among the top 30 container ports for the 1st half of 2018.
In container handling, Port of Colombo has recorded a 15.6% growth for the first half of 2018 over same period last year according to Alphaliner Monthly 2018.It is also a very significant achievement as it is the first time in history the Port of Colombo had reached the top of a global maritime ranking.With this growth, Port of Colombo has leaped ahead many other Asian ports, major European ports and Dubai as well.
