Colombo Port congestion seen persisting for two more weeks
The congestion at the Port of Colombo is expected to persist for another two weeks before easing, with the vessel turnaround at the port’s deep-draft terminals stretching up to six days, as the cargo displaced from the Gulf converges on a narrow set of berths, the industry sources told Mirror Business.The adverse weather is compounding the pressure. The industry sources said the strong winds have disrupted the vessel movements and berthing operations, adding to the delays already building from the additional demand.The delays are largely confined to the Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) and to a lesser degree, the Colombo West International Terminal (CWIT), the two facilities able to accommodate the largest vessels now calling at Colombo. The industry sources said the South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) and Jaya Container Terminal are running close to normal, as the additional demand is coming from the ships that only the deep-draft terminals can handle.Hapag-Lloyd, in its operational update for the last week of August, advised the customers of berthing delays of up to 24 to 36 hours at Colombo for vessels holding contracted berthing windows, citing yard density, an inter-terminal transfer backlog running up to 35,000 TEUs and bad weather. The German carrier placed Nhava Sheva at over 90 percent yard density, with delays up to 48 hours and Mundra at over 77 percent, with delays up to 24 hours in the same advisory.Jebel Ali handled 3.14 million TEUs in the first half of this year, down almost 60 percent from 7.77 million TEUs a year earlier, with the second-quarter volumes falling over 90 percent, according to Alphaliner. Most vessels calling at the Dubai port must transit the Strait of Hormuz and the carriers have redirected the relay cargo to the few South Asian terminals, with the draft to take their ships.The East Container Terminal has absorbed little of the overflow, with the industry sources noting that few lines have committed to fixed calls there, on account of the efficiency concerns. Navigation constraints are also adding to the delays, with an insufficient tug fleet slowing the vessel movements inside the harbour. The Cabinet in July approved hiring two tugboats from Sri Lanka Shipping Company Limited for US $ 17.16 million, excluding the taxes over five years, although the vessels are expected to enter service only next year.Meanwhile, the container throughput handled by the port grew 7.3 percent year-on-year (YoY) to 774,513 TEUs in July, as per the Central Bank data, taking the volumes for the first seven months to 5,218,547 TEUs, up 11.2 percent. The transshipment volumes rose 8.4 percent YoY to 628,053 TEUs during the month and 11.4 percent to 4,189,125 TEUs over the seven months.The domestic container volumes declined 2.7 percent YoY to 113,006 TEUs in July, although the cumulative volumes remain 6.6 percent ahead at 793,918 TEUs. Transshipment and re-stow together accounted for 85.4 percent of the port’s throughput during the month, up from 84.5 percent a year earlier, as the relay cargo takes priority for berth time and yard space.The re-stowing volumes climbed 27.5 percent YoY to 33,454 TEUs in July, growing close to four times faster than the total throughput. The re-stow moves accounted for 4.3 percent of all containers handled at the port during the month, up from 3.6 percent a year earlier. The Port of Colombo climbed from 26th to 20th in Alphaliner’s global container port rankings on its first-half throughput of 4.44 million TEUs, entering the top 20 for the first time. On the seven-month run rate, the port is tracking towards roughly 8.9 million TEUs for the full year, against the record 8,291,178 TEUs handled in 2025.The CWIT’s second phase, which will take its annual capacity towards 3.2 million TEUs, is due to be completed by December.
