The Sri Lanka Ports Authority said that the Colombo Port container volumes rose by 27% YoY in the Q1 of 2010 from last year and also exceeded throughput in the same 2008 period before recession hit global trade

As per report the number of containers handled by Colombo in the January to March 2010 period was 993,166 as compared with 779,604 TEUs in January to March 2009.

In 2009 container volumes handled by the port south Asia's transhipment hub fell 12 % to 779,604 from 887,278 TEUs in 2008 as global recession reduce trade and cargo flows.

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority said that the month of March 2010 also marked the highest ever monthly container throughput handled by Colombo port and the port handled a record volume of 360,801 TEUs in March this year an increase of 21.1 % compared to 297,911 TEUs in the same month a year ago.

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority also said that "With the ever highest monthly container throughput being recorded for March this year, the Port of Colombo has marked a growth rate of 27.4 % showing signs of an economic boom in the immediate future".

Mr Priyath Wickrama chairman of The Sri Lanka Ports Authority said that "We attracted several container and cruise lines in the recent past."
He also added that "I firmly believe that our service is the major order qualifying and the order winning criteria and the shippers have placed great confidence in it. Our business is very competitive and in competitive business there is no time for complacency."

(Sourced from www.lankabusinessonline.com)