The transshipment volumes handled by the Port of Colombo jumped by 9.7 percent year-on-year (YoY) to a record high of 6.31 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2024, with the transshipment volumes accounting for 81 percent of the port’s container throughput during the year.
Driven by transshipment growth, partly attributed to the Red Sea crisis, the port went on to record an all-time high container throughput of 7.78 million TEUs in 2024, registering a 12.1 percent YoY jump, surpassing the 6.91 million TEUs handled in the previous year.
In December last year, the transshipment volumes handled by the port climbed by 5.4 percent YoY to 544,266 TEUs, extending its growth streak.
The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) is targeting to surpass nine million TEUs in container throughput this year, with over two million additional capacities from the East Container Terminal (ECT) and Colombo West International Terminal (CWIT) set to boost the port’s capacity to over 10 million TEUs within this year.
In the year, the import container (laden) volumes rose by 23.5 percent YoY to 541,155 TEUs, while the export container (laden) volumes were also up by 6.2 percent YoY to 301,094 TEUs. In addition, the restowing volumes at the port were up by a record 49.6 percent YoY to 307,619 TEUs in the year.
The port’s only fully operational deep-water container terminal, Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT), handled 3.22 million TEUs during the year, up by 4.1 percent, from 3.20 million TEUs recorded in 2023.
The SLPA-managed Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) and its partially operational ECT together handled 2.41 million TEUs in 2024, up by 22.8 percent, from 1.96 million TEUs handled in 2023. The container volumes handled by the South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) also rose by 14.9 percent YoY to 2.02 million TEUs in the year.
However, the number of container ships calling at the port decreased in the year. The port witnessed a 9.5 percent YoY decline in container ship arrivals, down to 3,522 ships and the number of ships calling the port also declined in December last year but at a slower pace.
The conventional and other cargo vessels demonstrated a robust growth, with a 68.8 percent YoY increase to 54 vessels and a 27.8 percent YoY rise to 230 vessels, respectively. Notably, the port also handled 74 bunkering ships, reflecting a 68.2 percent YoY growth, signalling higher demand for refuelling. Overall, the number of ships calling the port was down by 6.3 percent YoY to 3,968 vessels last year.
The port emerged as a transit point for major shipping lines that decided to reroute their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, to avoid the disruptions to the shipments and high insurance premiums amidst disruptions in the Red Sea caused by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The port’s initial resurgence followed a boom period, driven by the Red Sea crisis, which lasted from late 2023 and early last year and was subsequently followed by a challenging period of heavy congestion. The congestion, exacerbated by trade union action by Sri Lanka Customs also exposed certain management lapses by the authorities. This resulted in operational inefficiencies, including inter-terminal delays, extended clearance times, reduced berthing efficiency and rerouting of some services by shipping lines. Towards the latter part of last year, the port started to see heavy congestion returning to previous levels.
