General
Sri Lanka sails in to the breach as ships by-pass Middle East over Houthi attacks
ECONOMYNEXT – Container terminals at Sri Lanka’s Colombo has seen daily volumes have surge as much as 80 percent, a top official said, as the port stepped in as the transshipment hub for Middle Eastern by-passed by vessels over Houthi attacks.
SLPA container terminals which usually handle about 5,000 to 6,000 twenty-foot equivalent units a day has seen daily volumes rise to 8,000 to 9,000 units, Chairman Keith Bernard said.
Other terminals in the port have seen similar trends, he said.
SLPA’s Jaye and East Terminals handle about 30 percent of the port’s container traffic.
The rest of the traffic is spread between Colombo International Container Terminal, run by China’s CM Ports group, which can handle the largest ships and South Asia Gateway Terminals owned by public listed John Keells Holdings.
Mainline ships are now going around the southern tip of Africa to reach Europe without calling at Middle Eastern port as they by-pass the Red Sea and Suez Canal.
Containers are unloaded at Colombo and taken by feeder vessels to the Middle East.
Bernard said the port was limited only by the capacity to store containers until connecting ships came.
West-bound freight rates have also risen for Sri Lanka’s exporters and importers from West bound routes.
In 2023 Colombo Port has handled 6.951 million TEUs up 1.17 percent from a year ago. SLPA’s volumes had grown by 2 percent to 1.925 million TEUs. (Colombo/Jan09/2023)
