Colombo Port’s transshipment growth slows to single digits in April

• By Nishel Fernando 

In April, the Port of Colombo saw its transshipment volume growth slowing down to single digits, after experiencing double-digit growth rates in the past four months, backed by the disruptions in the Red Sea, caused by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

In the month, the transshipment volumes handled by the port grew by 8.1 percent year-on-year (YoY) to 525,936 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), recording the lowest growth rate since November 
last year. 

However, the overall container throughput at the Port of Colombo grew by 10.2 percent YoY to 626,926 TEUs, with rising imports. 

In April, the import container (laden) volumes were up by 22.7 percent YoY to 36,457 TEUs, while the export container (laden) volumes rose by 6.6 percent YoY to 21,816 TEUs. 

Meanwhile, the restowing volumes at the port jumped by 60.9 percent YoY to 19,957 TEUs in 
the month.

The port’s only fully operational deep container terminal, Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT), handled 268,513 TEUs during the year, up by 7.8 percent from a year ago.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority-managed Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) and its partially operational East Container Terminal (ECT) together handled 184,286 TEUs in April, recording 3 percent YoY growth. 

The container volumes handled by South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) also rose by a significant 23.5 percent YoY to 174,130 TEUs in the month.

In the month, 312 ships called on the Port of Colombo, compared to 345 vassals from a year ago. This include 276 container cargo ships, five conventional ships and 16 other cargo ships.