Maersk calls for improved efficiency to iron out capacity constraints at Colombo Port

Biju Ravi
PIC BY NIMALSIRI EDIRISINGHE

•  Points out Colombo Port is ‘perfect and strategically advantageous’
•  Colombo Port recorded at least 25-30% YoY increase in transshipment volumes in Jan.

By Nishel Fernando 
As the Port of Colombo reaches near full capacity, driven by the Red Sea crisis, one of the largest ocean carriers Maersk stressed on improving the efficiency to overcome the possible capacity constraints, to fully benefit from the incoming transshipment traffic.  “Sri Lanka benefits from this on-going crisis (on the Red Sea) but we have to be more efficient. We are okay (in terms of capacity) as of now. If this is to continue, more and more ships will call on Colombo, because for the Cape of Good Hope, this port (Port of Colombo) is perfect and strategically advantageous. 
More shipping lines would want to call more of their services here, apart from what they are calling now,” Maersk Sri Lanka and the Maldives Country Manager Biju Ravi told Mirror Business, on the sidelines of an event held in Colombo last week. 
The port emerged as a transit point in the short term for major shipping lines that decided to reroute their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, to avoid the disruptions to the shipments and high insurance premiums, amidst the intensifying attacks on the vessels on the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

 According to the industry players, the yards at the Sri Lanka Ports Authority-managed Jaya Container Terminal and its partially operational East Container Terminal as well as the port’s only fully operational deep container terminal Colombo International Container Terminal, are currently operating at near full capacity. South Asia Gateway Terminal is operating at 60-70 percent capacity, due to the on-going installations of new cranes.   As per the unofficial estimates, the port has recorded at least 25-30 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase in transshipment volumes in January this year, after recording a 10.4 percent YoY increase in transshipment volumes in the previous month.
The industry players noted the Port of Colombo is experiencing an uptick in transshipment volumes, from both the east-bound and west-bound services.
“Let’s say you need eight ships to run the weekly service on this route; when you have to go around the Cape of Good Hope, there are additional eight to 10 days coming. Then you can’t manage with eight ships to offer the weekly service. Either you have to get an additional ship on-board or have to dump all cargo in Colombo and route this cargo to China or wherever on a feeder vassal. The latter is the easiest option. That’s why Colombo is getting congested,” an industry source told Mirror Business.
Analysts expect the current uncertain situation to prevail six to eight months.