Transshipment volumes at the mega port in Sri Lanka continued to drop for the fourth straight month in July as competition from Vizhinjam Port strengthens. July posted a decline of 6% Y-o-Y putting the volumes to 4,89,286 teus, the steepest decline so far in the current year. The number of container ships calling at the Colombo Port also declined by 17.8 percent YoY to 277 ships in the month. During the first half of this year, transshipment volumes recorded a growth of 7.3% YoY to 3.68 million TEUs.
The vessel-related charges (VRC) for Vizhinjam calls have been set substantially lower than the rating scale at the Colombo Port. A 30,000 gross registered tonnage, requiring a 24-hour berth stay, would only incur approximately US $ 10,000 towards VRC at Vizhinjam, compared with about US $ 21,000 at the Colombo Port.
