Ports and Shipping Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said that this will be phase V of the renovation of the terminal which will allow the terminal to handle larger ships.

SLPA earlier initiated extension of JCT IV berth at Jaya Container Terminal to enhance the capacity of the port to accommodate mega container carriers now in operation.

The extension was expected to berth two 8,000 TEU Container ships simultaneously at JCT III and JCT IV.

Jaya Container Terminal now has 4 container main berths and 2 feeder berths with 45.5 hectares of container terminal area. Total pier frontage has 12 to 15 meter dredged depth alongside.

Colombo Port handled 75 percent of transshipment and 25 percent of domestic cargo few years ago and the transshipment volume has increased to 80 percent at present.

Transshipment market of the Colombo Port is largely dependent on Indian cargo, especially with South and East Indian ports.

The Port of Colombo is commonly used for west bound traffic from the east coast of India, and for east bound traffic from the west coast of India.

Colombo Port may face increasing competition from Indian Ports due to increase in direct calls to Indian Ports and also the potential for Indian Ports to develop as competing regional ports.

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