THE Sri Lankan government has launched a huge development project to further modernise its ports across the country, in order to become a maritime hub in Southeast Asia
THE Sri Lankan government has launched a huge development project to further modernise its ports across the country, in order to become a maritime hub in Southeast Asia. The government's Information Department said in a statement that this project calls for the continuous expansion of capacity and for developing advanced handling and processing technology at the port of Colombo, which handled a record-breaking seven million TEU in 2018, reported Mumbai's TimesNowNews.
'The development of the East Container Terminal (ECT) at the port of Colombo will be followed by the West Container Terminal (WCT 1 and 2) ahead of demand.
'The ECT and the South Asia Gateway Terminal will be expanded to create an ultra large container terminal, expanding the total capacity to 35 million TEU in the coming years,' said Secretary to the Ministry of Ports and Shipping Sirimevan Ranasinghe.
Mr Ranasinghe said out of the six main ports in the country - the Port of Colombo, Hambantota port in the south and Trincomalee port in the east have become the focal point for future development as far as international shipping and logistics are concerned.
He said that Colombo port's geographical positioning enables it to offer integrated logistics and support port-related industries such as light, general and heavy industries.
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