Colombo, only regional port with deep-water terminal:

A new era in South Asia's maritime sector

By Shirajiv Sirimane

The ground work being laid

Colombo Port Expansion Project (East Container Terminal Stage 1)

Completed sections

Construction work under way

Work under way

Ancient history reveals that Sri Lanka was one of the biggest trading hubs in the world in that era. Produce such as rice, cinnamon, gems and even iron and other commodities were exported mainly from the harbour at Magampura or Hambantota.

However, with European invasions, this pattern was completely reversed and the then Ceylon was slowly converted to an economy which had to depend on foreign handouts. As a result, the Colombo Harbour was created and the other ancient harbours were abandoned.

This trend continued for centuries and President Mahinda Rajapaksa, realising the importance of having an international harbour network, reactivated this segment. The Mahinda Chinthana clearly spelt out that the maritime sector would be developed as one of the five key pillars of the economy. To live up to this promise, five international harbours are being built in the island.

One harbour, in Hambantota has already opened while Oluvil, which also has the facility to entertain foreign vessels, too would be opened.

Tourism harbour

For the first time in the maritime history in the region, a specially designed tourism harbour is being built in Galle while Trincomalee, one of the best natural harbours in the world, too is being developed to portray its past glory. The Kankesanthurai harbour is another area where international facilities are being introduced.

Heralding a new era in the region's maritime sector and further strengthening the local maritime sector, the much-awaited and long overdue Colombo Port Expansion Project (CPEP) would be opened tomorrow by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Colombo South Harbour (CSH) is situated west to the existing Port of Colombo, and comprises an area of 600 hectares. The layout of the Colombo Port Expansion Project was designed to accommodate vessels with an overall length of 400m, beam of 55m and draft of 16m.

The proposed layout shows that the CSH will be created by the construction of a major new breakwater to the west of the existing harbour and a smaller secondary breakwater.

The harbour will be served by a new two-way channel with a depth of 20m and a width of 570m. The new breakwaters in the initial phase will enclose a basin area of 285 ha which will support three new terminals, each with a quay length of 1200m and a land area of 58 ha.

The basin will be dredged to 18m with the provision to deepen it to 21m should a new generation of deep-drafted vessels come on line. There is also provision to extend the breakwater under a second phase to provide space for a fourth terminal.

The US$ 950 million project was launched in 2006. The Sri Lanka Government provided US$ 400 million while the rest of the funds was contributed by the private sector. The main terminal of the port was built by the private sector and the three terminals, each 20 feet in length, will have the capacity to handle 75 million TEUs per year.

Advanced features

The Colombo South Harbour would have advanced features such as an 18m depth and an access channel of 20m depth as opposed to 15m and 16m respectively of the present harbour. These advancements would attract any type of ship to the harbour, not only with its greater back-up space and depth, but also proper road access, access to container operator services and a well-established system already present in Colombo.

Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Dr. Priyath Bandu Wickrama said the opening of the Colombo South Port project would be a huge success in the history of port development in Sri Lanka, also marking the first step in transforming the Colombo Port into a leading container operator in South Asia. Equipped with the largest ever ship-to-shore gantry cranes in the Colombo harbour, it will be the first of four 1,200-metre long container terminals at the port. It will now be the only port in the South Asian region with a deep-water terminal with the ability to handle the largest ships afloat.

This expansion of the Colombo South Harbour would further enable its standing as an intermediate destination for transshipment. Not only will this extension project maintain the hub status of the Colombo Harbour, but will further contribute towards the vision of President Rajapaksa of elevating Sri Lanka to greater heights as a major commercial hub.