Tuesday Oct 06, 2026
Tuesday Oct 06, 2026
Tuesday, 6 October 2026 07:08 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Container volumes at the Port of Colombo rose 10.3% year-on-year (YoY) to 5.99 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the first eight months of 2026, driven by transshipment, Central Bank data showed, although domestic container traffic contracted sharply in August.
A TEU is the standard unit for measuring container capacity, equal to one 20-foot shipping container.
Total container handling at Colombo grew 4.7% YoY to 776,300 TEUs in August, from 741,124 TEUs a year earlier, according to Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) figures published by the Central Bank. The 2026 figures are provisional, while the 2025 figures have been revised.
Transshipment, the movement of containers through Colombo from one vessel to another en route to other markets, rose 7.8% YoY to 638,843 TEUs in August. For the January to August period, transshipment volumes increased 10.9% to 4.83 million TEUs. The segment accounted for 82% of the port's container volumes in August and 81% in the eight months.
In contrast, domestic container volumes, which serve Sri Lanka's own imports and exports, fell 12.5% YoY to 99,373 TEUs in August, from 113,615 TEUs a year earlier, a drop of 14,242 TEUs. Cumulative domestic volumes nonetheless grew 4.1% to 893,291 TEUs in the first eight months.
Re-stowing, the repositioning of containers aboard a vessel, recorded the fastest cumulative growth of any segment, rising 22.4% to 273,588 TEUs in the eight months. In August, re-stowing volumes increased 8.5% to 38,084 TEUs.
Total cargo handled across the ports of Colombo, Galle, Trincomalee and Hambantota International Port rose 1.1% YoY to 10.97 million metric tonnes (MT) in August, and 6.5% to 90.11 million MT in the first eight months.
Cargo discharged rose 2.2% to 6.17 million MT in August and 8.8% to 50.76 million MT in the eight months. Cargo loaded dipped 0.2% to 4.80 million MT in August, but was up 3.8% to 39.35 million MT for the January to August period.
Ship traffic across the four ports rose 2% YoY to 462 vessels in August, and 5.8% to 3,527 vessels in the first eight months.
The eight-month growth compares with an 11.9% increase to 4.44 million TEUs in the first half of 2026, according to shipping data provider Alphaliner, and 13.9% growth to 2.92 million TEUs in January to April. The first-half performance lifted Colombo to 20th place among the world's container ports, from 26th at the end of 2025. The port handled a record of about 8.3 million TEUs in 2025, the SLPA said.
The SLPA said it is pursuing investments of up to $ 2 billion in container handling and logistics infrastructure over the next one to three years, including expansion projects and public-private partnerships (PPPs).
