The Colombo port makes a downward slide
View(s):The Colombo port has made a downward slide of around 6 per cent growth last year compared to a 14 per cent growth in 2014 and the Jaya Container Terminal fully managed by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) has continued to make losses, SLPA statistics showed. The Colombo port annual throughput for 2014 was 4.9 million TEUs compared to 5.1 million TEUs last year that accounted for a 6 per cent increase, which was reportedly lower than the previous year’s increase in growth by 14 per cent. In 2013 annual throughput was at 4.3 million TEUs.
SLPA Managing Director S. Premachandra in an email interview with the Business Times said that the slide in volumes at the Colombo port was a “remarkable” achievement in comparison to India’s 2 per cent growth last year. Colombo generates 71 per cent of the Indian transshipment traffic, he added. Mr. Premachandra noted that major hub ports like Singapore had recorded a decline of 8 per cent due to the downturn in the international shipping and trade sectors.
The MD also said that “SLPA had not recorded a slowdown noting that the South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) and Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) were co-owned by the authority and that as a result the Port of Colombo achieved a growth of 5.7 per cent when ports like Singapore had registered a drop in volumes”. Statistics indicate that Domestic volumes at the Colombo port grown by 8 per cent this year compared to 9 per cent last year and the transshipment was also down from a 15 per cent growth in 2014 to a 5 per cent growth last year.
Terminal wise SLPA throughput had recorded a decline in volumes at 2.2 million TEUs in 2015 compared to 2.5 million TEUs in 2014 which indicated a drop of 12 per cent. He attributed the drop of 12 per cent to a “natural phenomena” considering that CICT had the capacity to attract all lines with large ships. Mr. Premachandra stated that SLPA is working together with two terminals to attract volumes from non traditional markets adding that the January figures show JCT registering an increase in volumes compared to 2015.
No figures for January were given by the MD.Meanwhile, the Hambantota port witnessed an overall drop in ship arrivals due to the stopping of bunker operations which incurred a loss of Rs.788 million in 2015; Mr. Premachandra said adding that as a result the number of ships dropped from 63 to 7 which impacted the total. However, the number of car carriers registered a growth of 9.1 per cent, it was stated