ECT to be fitted with JCT cranes
Sri Lankan authorities are carrying out discussions with India and Japan for plans to open the East Container Terminal (ECT) for operations within the next few months.
Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Chairman Gen. Daya Ratnayaka told the Business Times on Tuesday that currently they were in discussion with India and Japan on plans for the ECT.
He noted that on the ground level they have plans to fix three cranes due from China that had been ordered for the Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) to be installed at the ECT.
These cranes are said to have been ordered under the previous government from China for the purpose of fitting them to the JCT.
Gen. Ratnayaka pointed out that though these were not the right cranes they would be installed there for best use to increase capacity.
It is likely that these cranes would be brought down by the end of this month, according to the Chairman. Cranes for the ECT have been repeatedly been requested and are yet to be installed at the terminal.
Meanwhile, the Colombo port has been seeing a drop in volumes by about 22 per cent with transshipment volumes dipping by 20 per cent and local imports dropping by 33 per cent, Gen. Ratnayaka explained.
He noted that these figures hold good for this month stating “we can expect slowly to start gaining” adding that “this month also we expect a downturn to continue.”
In light of these losses, the SLPA is looking at taking on requests to store containers as they have received a number of containers and inquiries for many more and due to the available capacity they hope to entertain this kind of business for the present, the chairman said.
These containers belong to different companies in other ports and currently with a number of vessels floating in this area there is a demand to store these containers to curtail the costs incurred in keeping them onboard ships until other ports return to normalcy.