The Colombo Port handled its seven millionth TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit) yesterday.
The cargo was brought by MV CPO Hamburg of the MSC line. The containers will be handled with the joint marketing strategies by three terminals, JCT (Jaya Container Terminal), SAGT (South Asia Gateway Terminal) and CICT (Colombo International Container Terminal).
The Colombo Port marked its first achievement of operation in 1995 with one million TEUs. However it took almost nine years to reach the mark of two million TEUs in 2004. After that they were able to obtain three million TEUs in 2006, four million TEUs in 2010, five million TEUs in 2015 and six million TEUs in 2017 respectively.
“We need to work on better marketing policies,” said Sagala Ratnayaka, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Southern Development. He further said that this industry needs to have confidence on constitution and judiciary to expand its operation.
Through the collective operation of JCT, SAGT and CICT, the waiting time of all container vessels outside the port waters were reduced by allowing operations of vessels at the immediately available terminal.
The Colombo Port was ranked as the world’s No 1 container growth port among the top 30 container ports for the first half of 2018. It also had a recorded growth of 15.6% during the first half of 2018. It is also a significant achievement as it is the first time in history the Colombo Port reaches the top of a global maritime ranking. With this growth, the Colombo Port has leaped ahead many other Asian ports, major European ports and Dubai as well.
“But what is unique is that this year, the port handled seven million TEUs and that one million took only one year. By the end of this year, the transshipment volumes have increased by 19.3%,” Parakrama Dissanayake, Secretary to Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Southern Development and the Chairman of Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) said.
With the rapid development of port infrastructure including the new terminals and the public private partnership in operations at the Colombo Port, the TEU handling capacity at the port has dramatically increased during minimum time lapses of time period after 2004.
Furthermore, all sectors of the port operation showed a rapid growth with the latest initiatives implemented at the SLPA.
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