Two new 400 meter Container terminals to be completed in July 2013
The new breakwater at Colombo Port is part of a US $ 500 million port expansion - supported in part by US $ 300 million ADB loan - that is moving Sri Lanka toward the goal to get a economic hub in South Asia. Colombo’s new breakwater has a depth of 18 meters, compared to the previous 14 to 15 meters - a crucial difference in a world in which ever bigger cargo ships require ever deeper docking berths. “Most of the main [shipping] lines use vessels with a capacity of more than 8,000 containers and due to the limitations at Colombo Port we have not been in a position to service them,” says Shanthikumar Sadanandan, Group Director of the shipping company Hayleys Advantis, which uses the port. Priyath B. Wickrama, the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, the state-owned custodian of all Sri Lanka’s ports, agrees, saying that the new deepwater facilities are an important breakthrough for Colombo. “This is a development we have been discussing for five to 10 years,” he says. “It will definitely reduce freight rates, make us more competitive and attract more ships to call at Colombo.”
Makings of a hub
The breakwater was completed in April 2012. The next stage of the project involves the completion of two 400-meter-long terminals by July 2013. A third 400-meter terminal is also in the planning stages.