Transhipment container volumes at Colombo Port edge up in August

• Decline in overall volumes up to Aug. narrows 3.5% to 3.88mn TEUs.
• Restowing activities bounce back to pre-COVID levels

Transhipment container volumes at the Port of Colombo stagnated in August, after recording a positive growth for the second straight month and reaching pre-pandemic levels in July, mainly due to an acute shortage of containers in the region, impacting the export volumes in India and Bangladesh. 

The container transshipment volumes grew by one percent year-on-year (YoY) to 535,162 TEUs in August, after an 11.4 percent YoY increase in July. The key ports in India and Bangladesh are facing an acute shortage of containers to export their goods, as the exports bounced bank in the two countries, with the easing of pandemic-related travel restrictions.

Further, congestion in the Colombo Port running up to two to three weeks also contributed to delays in shipments for Indian exporters, according to media reports.  

The Colombo Port is the second biggest port for Indian containers and with around 70 percent of the port’s transshipment throughput coming from India.  

With the marginal growth seen in transshipment volumes in August, the decline in overall volumes up to August this year narrowed to 3.5 percent YoY, reaching 3.88 million TEUs.

The transshipment throughput at the Port of Colombo started to decline from March to up until end-June.
Meanwhile, restowing activities rebounded to pre-COVID levels, recording 18.2 percent YoY to 14,536 TEUs in August. 

In addition, the domestic container volumes continued to recover in the month, albeit remaining below pre-COVID levels, with a 5.9 percent YoY decline. 

On a month-on-month, the domestic container volumes recovered to 98,236 TEUs in August, compared to 86,709 TEUs in July and 73,329 TEUs in June.

The overall container volumes grew for the second straight month, recording a 0.2 percent YoY marginal growth, handling 647,934 TEUs, after reaching pre-pandemic levels in July, backed by a marginal growth in transshipment throughput and continuing recovery of domestic container volumes. 

However, the data showed the overall ship traffic at the country’s ports declining by 10 percent YoY to 362 ships in August, after 391 ships called on the country’s port in July. (NF)