By Priti Naik
Sri Lanka is facing congestion in the transshipment sector because of the economic crisis that has drastically affected the country with power outages, food shortages and political protests leading to a three-day curfew. The Inter-terminal transfers in the port were hit by fuel shortages.
In a video released by the Sri Lankan Port Authority (SLPA), terminal operators sought to reassure customers that it continued to operate normally. Jack Huang, CEO of Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT) said, “As we all know, Sri Lanka is going through the unprecedented time from a political and economic standpoint, but I wish to inform all our customers and other stakeholders that CICT continues to provide uninterrupted services under the same level of productivity that our customers are used to.”
Romesh David, CEO of South Asia Gateway Terminals said, “This is a is a message primarily to reassure our customers and the maritime community, both in Sri Lanka and around the world, and in South Asia in particular, that operations in the port of Colombo are functioning at normal levels. We did have some challenges with respect to inter terminal transfers. those are largely behind us now.” David noted that container volumes at the port in Q1 this year were 6% higher than 2021, a record year.
