Night view of Colombo Harbour

Sri Lanka will be able to cater to the South Asian needs in handling larger vessels with the construction of the Colombo Port’s third container terminal which is scheduled to be completed by 2016. The inauguration of the Colombo Port third container terminal was held on Friday and this is a long overdue project as capacity expansion was urgently needed to remain competitive in the region.

The US $ 500 million project will be completed in three stages and scheduled to be total operative by 2016, Colombo Shipping Academy CEO Rohan Masakorala told Daily News Business.

With the terminal Sri Lanka will have the capacity to entertain largest triple E class vessels which did not enter the port in the past. The expansion will enable the harbour basin to accommodate and handle 18 metre draft, he said.

The 600 metre terminal is a boost to the country’s shipping industry as Sri Lanka will be the only port in South Asia to handle large vessels. The first stage is expected to be completed by 2013.

The Colombo Port will be able to cater to larger transshipments with 10,000 TEUs capacity and the container handling capacity is expected to go up from 4.9 million to 13 million.

The project is carried out as a PPP venture and the expansion will see more liners calling the port.

The project will provide the port more capacity to market and it will have a positive impact on the local trade. As there is better connectivity opportunity, the trading community will benefit, he said.

With the expansion handling and ship capacity will increase while also creating employment opportunities and value addition. The project augurs well for the country to become the hub in the region. There will also be a 400 metre berth constructed to increase capacity in a bid to address the immediate needs in the port capacity to be completed by 2013 at the Colombo South harbour terminal, Masakorala said.
(DN-19122011)