Hambantota Inland Harbour:

A unique man-made port

The foaming blue waters of the mighty Indian Ocean that kiss the golden sandy beaches of our motherland perpetually suddenly began to flow inland into Hambantota on August 15. But, no one ran away in fear unlike on December 26, 2004, when the very same waters flowed inland, bringing a wave of death and destruction with it.

It was different on this day because the sea water that flowed inland, only ushered in prosperity; not disaster. In fact, thousands of people thronged to Hambantota, where the new harbour was being built, to witness the historic Karadiyawara Mangallaya, or the ceremonial filling of the harbour basin with sea water. This historic event took place at the auspicious time of 9.58 am under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The harbour basin which is 600 metres in diameter is presently being filled with sea water at the rate of one metre a day. It is expected to fill to capacity in three weeks time.

Why is the Hambantota harbour or port so special when there are two significant harbours - the Colombo International harbour and the natural harbour at Trincomalee, in the country already? It is because the harbour under construction at Hambantota is said to be the largest international inland harbour in the South East region, extending over thousands of acres of land, once completed.

The project which is estimated to cost about 1.5 billion US dollars is being carried out in phases. The foundation stone for the first phase was laid way back in 2007 (October 30) and the construction work, done with Chinese and local expertise began in January 2008. It is expected to be completed by November this year. More than 85 per cent of the funding and technical expertise is provided by the Chinese government for this project, which is the first of its kind.

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) says that initially the Hambantota port will function as a Service and Industrial Port and gradually be developed into a Transhipment Port. Under the first phase, two berths to handle cargo and fuel will be constructed. A sum of US dollars 300 million or more will be spent to carry out all the work under the first phase and another US dollars 800 million for the second and third phases. The port is expected to be completed by 2014.As Sri Lanka is geographically placed between the straits of Malacca and the Suez Canal and the Hambantota Port lies 10 nautical miles off the world's busiest east-west shipping route, where over 36,000 ships including about 4,500 oil tankers pass by.The Sri Lanka Ports Authority says that once it is completed, it would be capable of berthing between 35-40 ships at any given time as it is the biggest inland port constructed in this 21st century. It is initially expected to service around 2,500 of the 70,000 or more cargo ships that ply through the Colombo International Port.

This unique port will comprise container terminals ,bunkering facilities, a tank farm, dockyard and a 15 floor administrative complex.

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Fast facts

* A port was known to be operational in Hambantota way back in 250 BCE with Arabs and Chinese merchants using it as part of the silk route.

* The mouth of the natural harbour is about 22 m in depth.

* Once completed, the breakwater will be 1.5 k.m. long.

* The depth of the basin will be about 17 m where as the depth of the basin at the Colombo Port is 15.5 m.

* The turning circle is 600 m.

* In addition to the dam built to prevent flooding, a sea wall with interlocking concrete blocks to protect the port from the high seas will also be included in the project.

* The two general purpose berths built in the first phase comprise a 310 m bunkering berth and a 120 m craft berth.

* The oil tank farm will comprise eight tanks to store marine fuel, three aviation fuel tanks and three Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) tanks with a total capacity of 80,000 cubic metres.

* The Container Terminal and the dockyard are scheduled to be constructed under the second and third phases.

* The services offered at the port includes bunkering crew change facilities ship repair and ship building.