The Colombo Port and its Terminals.docx

7/28/2019 The Colombo Port and its Terminals.docx

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The Colombo Port and its Terminals

The Port of Colombo is located in an artificial harbour formed by three breakwaters,

constructed more than a century ago. The port basin covers 200 hectares and is dredged to

depths of up to 15 meters. Access to the harbour is provided on the western and northern

sides. The entire perimeter of the harbour is occupied with berths, terminals and vessel

related activities. The Port is connected to the national rail network; however, virtually all

cargo movements in and out of the port are by road transport. Because of the physical

constraints, any growth in the capacity of the existing port is severely limited.

Three container terminals at which the majority of container traffic is handled

Jaya Container Terminal (JCT)

On the eastern side comprise 4 berths totalling 1,292 m, the latest completed in 1996. Depths

alongside range from 12 m to 15 m. The berths are served by 6 Super-post Panamax and 8

Panamax gantry cranes, with capacities of 35.5t to 41t SWL serve the berths. The back of

berth in width varies between 330 and 380 metres forming a terminal around 45.5 ha. The

container yard was a capacity of 9,800 ground slots and is served by 39 RTGs and 4 RMGs.

In addition there are 2 feeder berths totalling 352 meters with depths of 8 and 9 meters. The

terminal, which is owned and operated by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), is fully self-

contained with its own reefer stacks, offices, workshops, amenities and substations. There are

current plans to extend the Southern berth by 120m to better accommodate longer ships

increase the yard area by 4 ha. Operations at the Southern Cross berth will be transferred to

UCT.

Unity Container Terminal (UCT)

It is located at the northern end of the harbour. Opened in 2004, it comprises 2 berths for

feeder vessels of 340 m with depths alongside of 9 and 11metres. The 340m long quay is

served by 3 panamax gantry cranes of 41t SWL. Thirteen RTGs serve two stacking areas with

1,020 ground slots. The terminal is also owned and operated by SLPA as a satellite terminal

for JCT.


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South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT)

The QEQ has been leased for a period of 30 years by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA)

to the terminal operator South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT) to develop and operate on a

BOT basis. The quay has been widened by SAGT to 100m on piles Eastwards in to the

harbour basin to accommodate a passenger berth of 250m and three container berths having a

total length of 1,005m. The berths have 15m depths and a container terminal area of 22.2

hectares. The container berths have been provided with 9 Super Post Panamax container

cranes and the terminal with 27 transfer cranes. It has a dry container stacking capacity of

26,250 TEU and a reefer container stacking capacity of 900 TEU. Cargo handling facilities

operated by the SLPA within the harbour include a tanker berth, cement and bulk grain-

handling facilities, quays used for vehicle imports, general cargo and military goods, and a

passenger/cruise berth at the southern end of SAGT.

Port capacity

The Port of Colombo had established its position as the dominant transhipment port for the

Indian sub-continent by the mid1990s; its success was attributable to several natural

advantages:

It is located near the East-West trunk routes between Asia Pacific, Europe and the USEast Coast.

It is the closest transhipment port to the huge, rapidly expanding markets of the IndianSub-Continent.

It has a well-protected deep water harbour.

With these advantages, Colombos container traffic rose from 0.6 million TEU in 1990 to 1.7

million TEU in 1997. After 1997, however, Colombo entered a period of stagnation, with

traffic remaining at 1.7 million TEU per annum until 2002. Currently with a capacity of 4.1

million TEUs and a dredged depth of over 15 m (49 ft.), the Colombo Harbour is one of

the busiestports in the world, and ranks among the top 35 ports. It is also one of the biggest

artificial harbours in the world handling most of the country's foreign trade. It has an annual

cargo tonnage of 30.9 million tons. The port is also the naval base forSri Lanka Navy

Western Fleet under the Commander Western Naval Area (COMWEST). The Port of
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Colombo is home to the second tallest building in South Asia and is the centre for many

commercial interests.

Port of Hambantota

The Port of Hambantota (also known as the Magampura Port) is a

maritime port in Hambantota, Sri Lanka. The first phase of the port was opened on 18

November 2010, with the first ceremonial berthing of the naval ship "Jetliner" to use the port

facilities. Hambantota Port is built inland and operated by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority.Construction of the port began in January 2008. It will be Sri Lankas largest port, after

the Port of Colombo. The Port of Hambantota will service ships traveling along one of

world's busiest shipping lines - the east-west shipping route which passes six to ten nautical

miles (19 km) south of Hambantota. The first phase of the port project will

provide bunkering, ship repair, ship building, and crew changes facilities. Later phases will

raise capacity of the port up to 20 million TEUsper year. When completed, the port will be

the biggest port constructed on land to date in the 21st century.
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Facilities

The first phase of the Port of Hambantota is consist of two 600m general purpose berths, a

310m bunkering berth and a 120m small craft berth. It will also contain a bunkering facility

and tank farm which will include 8 tanks formarine fuel, 3 tanks containing aviation fuel and

3 forLiquid Petroleum Gas (LPG). A 15 floor administrative complex will also be

constructed as part of the project. The mouth of the natural harbour at Hambantota has a 22m

depth. When completed, the port will have a 1.5 km long breakwater, with a minimum basin

depth of 17m. This is compared to the 15.5m depth of the Port of Colombo. The turning

circle will be 600m. A dam will also be built to prevent flooding in nearby areas, and a

seawall made of interlocking concrete blocks will protect the port from high seas. A $550

million tax-free port zone is being set up outside the port, with local and international

companies expressing interest in setting up shipbuilding, ship-repair and warehousing

facilities in the zone. It is completed in November 2010. The finished project is providing

indirect employment to over 50,000 people.

Second phase construction

Dredging works for the second phase were started immediately. The works were slightly

delayed due to the presence of a huge rock near the entrance of the harbour, which was

blasted at a cost of about $40m. The second phase is expected to be operational in 2014.

Costing $810m, it is also financed by the Export - Import Bank of China. The second phase

will be built in three stages. It will include a 2,140m long quay wall to accommodate four

100,000t and two 10,000t wharf berths in the first stage. The second stage will include

development of a 50ha offshore artificial island with an elevation of eight metres. Stage three

will include construction of a container oil terminal of 300m long and 17m depth, four

100,000DWT container berths, one 100,000DWT oil wharf and two 30,000 DWT feeder

berths. About 400,000m of roads and a flyover bridge, a 490,000m harbour basin and a

60ha of yard area with associated yard handling equipment will also be developed. China

Communications Construction (CCCC), the parent company of CHEC, was awarded the

second phase contract in January 2011.

Importance of this Port

The construction of the Hambantota Port is strategically important to Sri Lanka as the country

would be in a position to handle general cargo and the repair work speedily and concentrate
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on container handling at the Colombo Port. The ship repair facility between Singapore and

Dubai is insufficient and we could give priority for this at the Hambantota Port. This will also

avoid unnecessary delays for ships calling at the Colombo Port for repairs. The global

downturn affected economies and shipping lines too were affected. However, we are hopeful

that the traffic will increase in the near future as certain segments are already showing an

improvement

Traffic Handled

The port occupies an area of 4,000 acres (16km) and will be the largest of its kind in South

Asia. It is having a capacity to accommodate 33 vessels at time. When fully operational, it

will be the world's largest port built on land and will handle about 20 million TEUs a year. It

will also be the second largest port operated by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority in the country

(after the Port of Colombo). The new port is being built to reduce the traffic at the Port of

Colombo, which alone handles 6,000 ships a year. Hambantota is close to the Asian and

European international shipping routes - the Suez Canal and the Strait of Malacca. These

routes through Hambantota are used by about 36,000 ships, including 4,500 oil tankers.

The port saves about three days of sailing time and fuel. It also offers advantages of ship

repair, bunkering, food, medical and water supplies, plus logistics supportHambantota Port

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The Colombo Port and its Terminals.docx