Colombo port transshipment container volumes rebound in Jan-Oct. period despite global economic woes

By Nishel Fernando

Transshipment container volumes at the Port of Colombo continued to rebound in the second half of the year up to October, with main shipping lines making carrier network changes to stay aligned with the current challenging market conditions, presenting mixed results for Port of Colombo.

Cumulative transshipment container volumes at the Port of Colombo rose by 2.2 percent YoY to 4.84 million TEUs in the first ten months of the year, despite a 4.7 percent decline in October. This decline was likely due to adverse weather conditions prevailing in the month and declining demand for cargo from Europe due to current economic conditions.

“It might be due to adverse weather conditions that delayed the arrival of ships, impacting productivity and throughput. The global demand for cargo is also on the decline, a factor coming out of India and Bangladesh,” a senior shipping industry professional said.

Overall, he highlighted that the ongoing changes in the shipping sector offer a mixed bag for the Port of Colombo in terms of transshipment volumes over the next couple of months, particularly due to the reorganising in shipping routes from East to Europe due to present economic conditions.

“There are some services pulling out, but it’s not limited to Colombo; they are pulling out a couple of loops from the Far East to Europe. Certain volumes from Colombo may shift, but those are in the months ahead. There can be some optimism as well, with more cargo coming into Colombo due to some shifts,” he added.

Meanwhile, total containers handled by the Port were up by 0.3 percent YoY to 5.79 million TEUs in the first ten months of the year, with domestic imports (laden) volumes declining by 5.1 percent YoY to 350,497 and export volumes by 7.2 percent YoY to 239,113 TEUs in the period. However, containers handled by the Port in October were down by 2.7 percent YoY to 529,533 TEUs.

During the period, Port of Colombo’s only fully operational deep container terminal, Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT), managed to handle 2.66 million TEUs, followed by 1.66 million TEUs handled by Sri Lanka Ports Authority-managed Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) and its partially operational East Container Terminal (ECT), and 1.47 TEUs handled by South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT). Ship traffic at the Port rose by 19.2 percent YoY to 3,547 vessels during the period.