April 2013

Colombo International Container Terminals achieved another milestone, when they took delivery of the first batch of Container Handling Cranes, which were delivered direct to the CICT berth at the new Colombo South Terminal.

Coincidentally, the berthing of the vessel carrying these cranes at the CICT is a historic moment as it was the first ship to berth alongside the new berth.

The first phase of the CICT berth construction is now complete and the terminal is gearing up to commence operations in July this year to accommodate mega vsls ranging from triple E-Class to UVLCCs for repairs and berthing purposes. What is most noteworthy and commendable is that CICT has fast-tracked the total project completion time from an originally estimated time frame of 60 months to 30 months, and is well on track to meet the project completion target date of April 2014.

With the commissioning of the CICT terminal, the Port of Colombo will be claiming membership to the very limited number of global container terminals that have the capability to handle the largest vessels that are afloat currently. More importantly, with the mobilisation of these large ship-to-shore quay gantry cranes, Port of Colombo can boast of being the only port within the region to meet the infra-structure capability to handle the latest new generation 18,000 TEU ships which are schedule to be launched during the third quarter of this year. Industry sources were very optimistic of this record achievement by CICT and the Port of Colombo, and were positive that this would be an important catalyst in making Colombo a regional maritime hub.

25 May 2013

Vessel Mv. Zhong Hai with Pulsar/HXZA security team in Colombo port/NNP berth for discharging of Steel Billets

12 December 2012 - Daily News

Hambantota Bunker Fuel Terminal

Sri Lanka will start operations at the 82,000 ton capacity fuel bunkering terminal of its new Hambantota port in October, 16 months later than the original schedule, the ports authority said on Friday. The state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority had originally planned to open the facility for full operational bunkering in May 2011.

The $130 million project contains eight tanks of bunkering oil and six tanks of aviation fuel and LPG in the initial stage. “We got the license on Wednesday. We are now in the process of buying test products. It might take three months to start, so it will be in October,”. Hambantota bunkering capacity could be expanded to 4 million metric tonnes if demand picks up. The bunkering operation is the only part of the port not open to external investment.

China Exim Bank has loaned $77 million toward the cost of the terminal, which the ports authority will operate. China has loaned Sri Lanka the bulk of the money to build the $1.5 billion port. Hambantota, which opened in November 2010, is set to be Sri Lanka’s biggest port once the second phase is completed and to give the Indian Ocean country access to traffic on one of the world’s biggest East-West shipping lanes, located a few kilometres off its southern coast.

MV Csav Rio Illapel Monrovia at MRMRP

The RO-RO vessel MV Csav Rio Illapel Monrovia called at the Magam Ruhunupura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port (MRMRP) in Hambantota on July 6, with 460 vehicles from Japan.

The vessel voyaged from Japan via Singapore and Chennai to Sri Lanka’s Southern Port of MRMRP. The port which commenced its transhipment process in Hambantota early this year, has already started to make earnings in a fruitful manner, as more ships are scheduled to arrive at the port in coming days.