Colombo Port Containers Handling Grows by 11.78pct Year-on-Year. SLPA Handles a Record 205,539 TEU in January 2011

09th February 2011, www.island.lk

The Port of Colombo saw volumes increased by 11.78 percent year-on-year in January 2011 while the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) handled its highest ever monthly container throughput in January 2011 at 205,539 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units), which was 4,327 TEUs higher than the previous record of 201,212 TEUs in August 2010.

The 205,539 TEUs handled by SLPA in January 2011 was against 165,400 TEUs handled in January 2010, which is 40,139 TEUs more, or a 24.2 percent growth.

The total containers handled by the Port of Colombo for the month of January 2011 reached 366,971 TEUs compared with 328,290 TEUs handled for the same period in 2010, which is 38,681TEUs more handled this year, a growth of 11.78%.

"In the year 2004, the Port of Colombo handled 2 million TEU of containers which has grown to 4 million TEU by 2010. It is expected to be 10 million TEU by 2020, when the port will generate 40 percent of the government income. Last year, the state-run JCT of SLPA reached a historic record throughput of 2 million TEUs in eleven months," the SLPA said in a statement yesterday (9).

SLPA Managing Director Capt. Nihal Keppetipola said performance at the Port of Colombo was erratic or mediocre during early years, when ad-hoc and inconsistent policies were being implemented with no coherent vision, and that led to the Port of Colombo being relegated to a lower ranking in the global container market.

"However, from 2007, the JCT management had the vision to focus and bring back the Port of Colombo to its current status as a major regional hub-port. It is with a sense of great pleasure and pride, that I place on record the fact that the world’s second largest shipping line MSC which had abandoned the Port of Colombo during that period in favor of other competing hub ports, is now back with us once again," Capt. Nihal Keppetipola said.

Dr. P.B.Wickrama is the Chairman of SLPA.

Related Info :
• Colombo Port Jaya Container Terminal Handles Two Million TEUs in 11 Months. Four Million TEU Mark to Reach before Year End

Volumes Up at Colombo Port Private Terminal, SAGT Run by John Keells

08th June 2010, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Cargo volumes at a Colombo port private terminal run by an associate firm of John Keells Holdings surged 22.3 percent in May to 175,514 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) from a year ago, latest data shows.

Container flows at the terminal as well as the port's other terminals which are owned by government have been rising on the back of a recovery in trade with the end of global recession.

Container volumes at South Asia Gateway Terminals, a big contributor to JKH profits, are up 30.4 percent to 851,435 TEUs up to May this year from a year ago.

The containers handled in May were the second highest-ever monthly volumes at the private terminal, analysts said.

SAGT handled a record 181,991 containers in March 2010 as transshipment traffic, which accounts for two-thirds of the terminal's business, rose sharply with the recovery in regional trade.

SAGT is part of the transport business of the JKH conglomerate which has been making an increasing contribution to group profits in recent years.

New Korean-Built 4255 TEU Container Vessel Named 'Zim Colombo'

21st December 2009, www.dailymirror.lk

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services (ZISS) has christened its new Korean-built 4255 TEU Container Vessel Zim Colombo and has deployed it into their East Mediterranean Express (EMX) Service, which touches Colombo on its west-bound and east-bound voyages.

ZISS offers 60 services to ports of call throughout Europe, the United States and Canada, Central and South America, Africa and Asia and it has established a particularly strong presence on routes between the Far East and the Caribbean, Mediterranean and China.

In addition, to meet the changing needs of a dynamic market, ZISS continuously expands and diversifies their geographic coverage and is currently strengthening their presence in developing regions, with a focus on the Far East, Former Soviet Union regions, South America and Africa.

According to their plans, two major ZISS services - ZIM Container Service (ZCS) and EMX - have already embarked on Super-Slow Steaming, a measure that would enable substantial fuel savings and significantly reduced CO2 and NOx emissions.

In pursuance of this endeavour, ZISS added a 4255 TEU vessel to each service, thus maintaining similar levels of service in terms of frequency and with only minor changes in transit times. Accordingly, ZCS deploys 16 vessels while EMX deploys 11 vessels in their operations.

Slow steaming is in line with ZISS's streamlining and savings efforts. ZISS is one of the first shipping companies whose owned fleet confirms to Environmental Management (ISO 14001) standards. The Super-Slow Steaming will reduce the CO2 and NOx emission drastically in these two lines and will support ZISS's persistent commitment to sustainability and environmental awareness.

A ceremony was held on board the vessel MV Zim Colombo, in celebration of her maiden voyage at the JCT of Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), on her inaugural west-bound voyage on 17 December 2009.

To mark the significance of this move to the SLPA, plaques were exchanged between the Managing Director of SLPA Capt. Nihal Keppetipola and the Master of the Vessel Capt. Sergej Decenkov and the officials of Star Lanka Shipping, the local shipping agents.

Commenting on this new addition, SLPA Managing Director Capt. Nihal Keppetipola said: "We have attracted several new lines and services in recent months and this trend is a clear approbation by the liner community of the current customer-friendly marketing orientation and pragmatic policies of SLPA. This apart, our country has come to the threshold of an economic renaissance with peace dividend being invested on huge maritime-related infrastructure development projects."

"The christening of ZISS's new vessel as Zim Colombo is of great significance to Sri Lanka which fills us with pride, especially at a time when the green shoots of recovery from the global economic meltdown are appearing. This would make the Port of Colombo echo throughout the world, which is now well accepted as the regional hub port. I take this opportunity to wish ZISS and their local agent Star Lanka Shipping every success," he further said.

Image : Plaques are exchanged between the Managing Director of SLPA Capt. Nihal Keppetipola (third from right) and the Master of the Vessel Capt. Sergej Decenkov (fourth from right) while N. Ranchigoda - Director Star Lanka Shipping (fourth from left), Dillan Lawrence - Manager Star Lanka (first from right), Chief Operations Manager of SLPA G.A.Thalagala (second from right), Harbour Master of SLPA Capt. Ravi Jayawickrama (second from left), Dy. Chief Operations Manager of SLPA Jayantha Perera (third from left) and Dy. Chief Manager (Marketing and BD) of SLPA Upul Jayathissa (first from left) look on