Port of Colombo transshipments soar for third consecutive month

SRI Lanka's Port of Colombo has witnessed an increase in transshipments by 29.1 per cent year on year in February, marking the third consecutive month of growth.

This expansion was fuelled by recurrent interruptions in the Red Sea, according to the port, reports London's Port Technology.

Transshipment volumes hit 528,348 TEU in February. Since December of last year, the Port of Colombo has seen a double-digit rise in transshipment volumes.

The port's transshipment volumes increased by 10.4 per cent year on year in December last year to 515,404 TEU and by 25.5 per cent year on year in January this year to 562,527 TEU.

The entire container throughput at the Port of Colombo increased by 32.9 per cent year on year to 646,407 TEU in February.

Transshipment volumes accounted for a significant 82 per cent of overall throughput. Import container (loaded) volumes increased by 56.9 per cent year on year to 43,201 TEU, while export container (laden) volumes increased by 14.5 per cent year on year to 25,169 TEU.

Meanwhile, re-stowing volumes at the port increased by 133.4 per cent year on year to 25,962 TEU in the month.

The port's only fully operational deep container terminal, Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT), handled 287,539 TEU during the year, up 24.1 per cent from the previous year, followed by the SLPA-managed Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) and its partially operational East Container Terminal (ECT), which handled 212,115 TEU in February, representing a 69.1 per cent year-on-year increase.

The container volumes handled by South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) increased by 13.4 per cent year on year to 146,753 TEU during the month.

334 ships called in the Port of Colombo this month, up from 307 the previous year. This comprises 303 container cargo ships, four conventional ships, and twelve more cargo ships.

Maersk's containership, the Ane Maersk, recently completed its inaugural port call at the Port of Colombo.