Colombo South Port opens next month

by Ranil Wijayapala

The Colombo's South Port developed under the Colombo Port Expansion Project will be open next month, Secretary to Ministry of Ports and Highways R.W.R. Pemasiri told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

"A date next month will be fixed for the opening of the Colombo's South harbour", the Secretary said.

With the commissioning of the first phase of the Colombo South harbour project, one terminal will be added to the operations to increase the current container handling capacity of the Colombo harbour.

Colombo International Container Terminals Ltd (CICT) will be the first terminal to come on stream in the Colombo South Harbour project and it will be equipped with the largest ever ship-to-shore gantry cranes in the Colombo harbour. It will be the first of the four 1,200-metre long container terminals of the port with an investment exceeding US $ 500 million.

The operating company, China International Container Terminal (CICT) is a joint venture established between China Merchants Holdings International, Aitken Spence Plc and Sri Lanka Ports Authority for the design, construction and management of the Colombo South Terminal.

With this new terminal, the Port of Colombo becomes the only port in the South Asia region with a deep-water terminal to handle the largest ships afloat.

The Colombo Port Expansion Project was launched in 2006 to cater for the increasing demands of services in the international shipping industry and to accommodate large ships at the Colombo harbour. The Asian Development Bank and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) jointly financed the US$ 400 million project of infrastructure works of the Colombo South harbour project and the construction of the first terminal commenced in December 2011.

The project also included the construction of the 5.2 kilometre main breakwater, 1.6 kilometre sub breakwater, access roads and the light house.

The Project also involves dredging and breakwater construction sufficient to accommodate three terminals, to be constructed in different stages to double the container handling capacity sequentially. It also includes the establishment of a new marine operations centre, relocation of a submarine oil pipeline, provision of navigational aids, and construction of shore utilities.