By the end of November 2024, the Port of Colombo had surpassed 7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in container throughput, which was a major milestone and the best performance since 2021. The port will end the year with its highest-ever cargo traffic thanks to this accomplishment.
The cumulative container throughput as of November was 7.1 million TEUs, representing a YoY increase of 12.6%. In 2018 and 2021, the port first surpassed the 7 million TEU threshold. Notably, in just 11 months, this year’s throughput surpassed the 6.91 million TEUs handled in 2023.
By October, the port’s sole fully functional deep-water facility, the Colombo International Container facility (CICT), handled 3.07 million TEUs, representing a 4.8 percent YoY increase. With a combined YoY growth of 23.4 percent, the partially operating East Container Terminal (ECT) and the Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) handled 2.19 million TEUs. With a YoY growth of 15.1% to handle 1.84 million TEUs, the South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) also showed strong performance.
Transshipment volumes, which accounted for 81% of the port’s overall container traffic, were crucial to this expansion, which was fueled in part by the Red Sea crisis. Transshipment volumes increased 32.5 percent year over year to 523,362 TEUs in November alone. Transshipment volumes rose 10.2 percent year over year to 5.77 million TEUs during the 11-month period.
During the 11-month period, import container (loaded) volumes increased by 23 percent year over year to 483,528 TEUs, while export container (laden) volumes increased by 5.7 percent year over year to 275,364 TEUs. Restowing volumes also increased to 279,910 TEUs, a YoY increase of 60.1%.
The number of container ships calling at the port decreased by 10.2 percent YoY to 3,198, notwithstanding the remarkable cargo throughput. Similarly, the total number of ships arriving, including those for bunkering and maintenance, decreased by 7.1 percent year over year to 3,601. Nonetheless, there was an increase in the number of conventional and other cargo ships arriving.
