The port of Colombo has been experiencing months-long delays in customs clearance of import and export cargo, forcing Sri Lanka’s joint trade chambers to call for urgent action to bring normalcy. They said shipments suffered long delays and caused serious risks to the island nation’s economy.
Exporters are facing potential delays with imported inputs, missed shipping opportunities, and increased processing costs, undermining their competitiveness in the global markets and foreign buyer confidence in Sri Lanka. It said ships were bypassing Colombo to more efficient neighbouring ports which could be a permanent shift resulting in lost container volumes.
Several hundreds of import containers are inside the Colombo port and more are queued for days awaiting entry to the port as Sri Lanka Customs inspects containers physically.
However, Sri Lanka Customs, with the full cooperation of joint trade unions, launched a four-day expedited container clearance process, aiming to clear the backlog of containers at examination yards by February 02. It is reported that all examination yards and the Valuation Directorate will operate with full staff until February 02 to ensure the clearance of all queued-up containers.
Therefore, all consignees, clearing agents, and transporters are requested to extend their fullest cooperation by attending to their tasks on time so that the backlog can be cleared within the given period. Additionally, all other government agencies working alongside Customs have been informed to support this initiative.
