Container transshipment business - Beyond Colombo !

Container transshipment business - Beyond Colombo ! Prospects for Trincomalee & Hambantota

COLOMBO PORT

The port of Colombo has established itself as the leading transshipment hub in South Asia and ranked within top 30 world class terminals. Colombo will have its own challenges to grow and provide more services to shipping lines and regional shippers to satisfy customer needs. Colombo will have to develop new businesses to keep itself as the preferred choice as transshipment location in South Asia and support all related logistics services.

Colombo has set a target for itself to be within the top 20 container ports in the world by 2020. Industry stakeholders will support this initiative but the Sri Lankan Government would want the maritime sector to contribute at least 6% of GDP by 2030, to do this Sri Lanka need to diversify, attract FDI and create the conducive environment for global capital and maritime services to have regional officers and service centres to be located into Sri Lanka.

Hence Sri Lanka needs to look at other ports around the island and increase other maritime related activities to do the needed transformation

Time to utilise Trincomalee

TRINCOMALEE PORT

For decades one of the most beautiful and natural harbours of the world had not been taken into consideration for economic expansion; of course the military conflict was the number one issue. Now Sri Lanka has to make a focus as this port is ideally located to service Indian east coast, Bangladesh and Myanmar for many types of shipping services, including bulk and general cargo, it is also ideal for ferry services and cruise and yacht tourism. 

Yacht Tourism - potential for Trincomalee

Trincomalee can be the main service port for industrial and general cargo distribution, ship repair and shipbuilding, dockyard services, ship management and to provide services for ships when they are idling.

Promising Hambantota

Hambantota can be transformed with a proper financial and a marketing plan with investor friendly environment Hambantota can be one of the major ports that industries can be set up and ship operators can benefit to reduce costs in shipping in the Indian subcontinent services. It is paramount that Sri Lanka has to get energy services located in Hambantota, including refinery facility to provide ships with bunkers and in the long run to develop a regional LNG supply location for shipping services as hybrid ships are on design now. Such facilities will have a multiplier effect to the country and the regions shipping industry.

The Hambantota development project was probably more than three decades in the drawing boards and the last regime accelerated the project but they lacked a strategy and proper financial discipline and of course it was proven beyond doubt they did not have a plan either to develop business to utilise the capacity created by the time it was commissioned. The location was always attractive for shipping to be developed, if Jebel Ali port in Dubai in a fishing village in the desert could be transformed into a major shipping hub which is not on the main shipping route, Hambantota should be a location that can be transformed if proper planning and modelling was done and took a step by step approach by the then policy makers.

Bright prospects for Hambantota

The plan to work with China to develop the port that they funded is the correct move, but the government must work with other maritime nations and investors to use Hambantota for shipping and maritime related services as well. The success of Singapore is not only the location and business friendly environment. But its ability to be a major energy supplier and occupy number one slot for bunkering has in turn made it an attractive location for services beyond the ship.