COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Colombo port status as a container hub is growing
despite shipping lines making direct calls to Indian ports, a new study
by the Asian Development Bank has said.
The Asia–Europe shipping route passing close to Sri Lanka, enables
Colombo to become the main hub port for the South Asian region, it said.
The study on maritime co-operation under the ADB’s South Asia
Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program, said Colombo ranks
23rd in container traffic globally, ahead India’s largest ports Mumbai
and Mundra.
“Colombo is SASEC’s busiest container port. It is close to the busy Southern Ocean Corridor and
acts as a container hub for the subcontinent,” the study said.
Its annual growth was 16.8 percent in 2017, and the transshipment
activity, which represents almost 80% of handling, was up by over 20
percent.
“This high transshipment growth rate suggests its role as a hub for the
subregion is increasing, despite more direct mainline calls to Indian
ports,” the ADB report said.
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