Colombo International Container Terminals opens for biz on schedule

Tuesday, 2 July 2013 00:15 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The first deep water container terminal in the Port of Colombo, owned and operated by China Merchants Holdings International Ltd. (CMHI), commenced commercial operations yesterday exactly as scheduled on 1 July 2013. The CICT project was originally planned to be completed in 60 months. It was then fast-tracked to be completed in 28 months. Construction work commenced in December 2011 and within the short span of 18 months, the first phase of 400+ metres quay length was completed and the balance work is now scheduled to be fully completed by April 2014.

The first phase was commissioned yesterday with the berthing of the MV Coromandel, at a simple ceremony in the presence of a small gathering. This gathering was graced with the presence of the CMHI Managing Director and CICT Chairman Dr. Hu Jian Hua, SLPA Chairman Dr. Priyath B. Wickrama, Managing Director Capt. N. Keppetipola, Director and CICT CEO Nelson Liu. Also present were the Chairman of CASA, Chairman of SLAVO, and the Owner’s Representative of the Ship Arindam Chatterjee. It is ironical that the first vessel to berth at CICT owned and managed by CMHI, happened to be operated by St. John Container Lines Pte Ltd. This is a very well established and reputed feeder container line from India. This development would augur well for the potential shipping links which CMHI could encourage to establish to increase container volumes between China and India through the Colombo hub. CICT sources confirmed that phase two has also been fast-tracked and is scheduled to commence operations as early as September 2013. The delivery of the second batch of equipment consisting of another three ship-to-shore gantry cranes and 10 additional rubber tyred gantry cranes has now been advanced to September. With a berth length of 700+ metres and the second batch of equipment in place, CICT will introduce the ultra-large container carriers of over 10,000 TEU capacity to the Port of Colombo. Riding on the inherent strength of CMHI, with their access to the largest global container Shipping Lines, CICT is well geared to play the catalyst role in making Colombo the regional maritime hub. Shipping industry sources were delighted with this development and full of praise for CMHI for having delivered the project on time, as promised. They were impressed by the fact that such a gigantic project had been completed well ahead of schedule and hoped that this would set the benchmark for other such similar infra-structure projects in the country. These sources also commented positively on the advantage of foreign private sector investment and the efficient management of such projects.