COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Colombo container port is planning a major 33% expansion in capacity to 9.6 million TEU by the end of next year, from the current 7.2 million TEU, as it transforms into a major global transshipment hub, a senior port official said.
The East Container Terminal is being developed and bids to take a joint venture share in the project are expected to be invited soon under the public private partnership scheme, Tissa Wickramasinghe, general manager at Colombo International Container Terminals, or CICT, said in an interview on the sidelines of the TOC and Container Supply Chain Conference in Singapore last week.
CICT is Sri Lanka’s first deepwater container terminal and has a total handling capacity of 2.4 million TEU. In addition, there are two shallow water terminals at Colombo port, each 15 meters in depth with berthing capacity of 3.4 million TEU and 1.4 million TEU. At ECT, around 400 meters of berths have already been built by Sri Lanka Ports Authority, or SLPA, and the balance 800 meters will be completed after the joint venture arrangement with a private entity is finalized, he said.
