Colombo Port transshipment growth surges for third month

• By Nishel Fernando

In February, the Port of Colombo saw its transshipment volume growth accelerate for the third consecutive month, with a 29.1 percent year-on-year increase. This growth was driven by ongoing disruptions in the Red Sea, benefiting the port.

The transshipment volumes handled by the Port reached 528,348 TEUs in February.  The Port of Colombo has recorded double digit transshipment volume growth since December last year. In December last year, the transshipment volumes handled by the port climbed by 10.4 percent YoY to 515,404 TEUs, and it accelerated 25.5 percent YoY to 562,527 TEUs in January this year.

Trade volume through the Suez Canal plummeted by 50 percent YoY ) in the first two months of 2024  with nearly half of all cargo ships and tankers been diverted away from the Suez Canal to alternative routes around the Cape of Good Hope following attacks on commercial ships in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, as per data from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) PortWatch.

The overall container throughput at the Port of Colombo also saw a robust expansion, rising by 32.9 percent YoY to 646,407 TEUs in February. Transshipment volumes accounted for a substantial 82 percent of total throughput.
In the month, import container (laden) volumes were up by 56.9 percent YoY to 43,201 TEUs, while the export container (laden) volumes rose by 14.5 percent YoY to 25,169 TEUs. Meanwhile, the re-stowing volumes at the port rose by 133.4 percent YoY to 25,962 TEUs in the month.   The port’s only fully operational deep container terminal, Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT), handled 287,539 TEUs during the year, up by 24.1 percent from a year ago, followed by the SLPA-managed Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) and its partially operational East Container Terminal (ECT) which together handled 212,115 TEUs in February, recording 69.1 percent YoY growth. 

The container volumes handled by South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) also rose by 13.4 percent YoY to 146,753 TEUs in the month.   In the month, 334 ships called on Port of Colombo compared to 307 vassals from a year ago. This includes 303 container cargo ships, four conventional ships and 12 other cargo ships.