CICT attracts first new service to Colombo from Ocean Alliance

Representatives of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, CICT and CMA CGM Lanka at the traditional plaque exchange ceremony on board the CMA CGM Nabucco

Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT) recently welcomed the maiden call of CMA CGM Nabucco, the first vessel under the Ocean Alliance to call on the Port of Colombo.

The vessel operated by CMA CGM was the first in a new weekly service attracted to Colombo by CICT this year, and will operate under the USEC 3 Columbus Suez service of the Ocean Alliance, the company said.

“The introduction of this new service demonstrates how CICT continues to play the anchor role of attracting new volumes through the Port of Colombo,” CICT CEO Ray Ren said. “This is in line with our concept and focus of marketing the Port internationally as one unit for the benefit of all terminals, thereby enhancing the position of the Port of Colombo as a major common-user transhipment hub.”

Making the welcome address on board the ship, Colombo International Container Terminals Head of Commercial and Marketing Catriona Jayasundera emphasised the critical role played by CICT in drawing synergies from the parent company CM Port to attract the new service to the Port of Colombo. She disclosed that the global marketing reach of CM Port working together with CICT over the last few years had enabled the Port of Colombo to move up the global rankings to the No. 23 position in the world. 

With more than 40 maritime services and 323 ships, Ocean Alliance is the largest operational agreement ever made between shipping companies. It offers 17 services on the Asian-Northern Europe, Mediterranean, Red Sea and Middle Eastern trades, and 23 services on the North American trades making it the number one Alliance on the Transpacific. The CMA CGM Group has the biggest market share in this agreement deploying a fleet of 119 ships among the most efficient on their respective trades.

The first and currently the only deep water terminal in South Asia equipped with facilities to handle the largest vessels afloat, CICT reported a throughput of 2 million TEUs for the 12 months ending 31 December 2016, achieving impressive YoY growth of 28% in volume. Over the past two years, CICT has brought some of the largest vessels plying the Asia-Europe routes to Colombo.