Sri Lanka is strategically located in the Indian Ocean at the centre of east-west maritime routes. In the late-90s, the government took a decision to develop Sri Lanka as a regional shipping and logistics hub similar to Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The Port of Colombo has undergone cycles of expansion and modernisation to meet the needs of the shipping industry both domestically and globally. The development is continuing.

The Port of Colombo has 23 major shipping lines and seven feeder services in operation, and is considered one of the most efficient and streamlined ports in the region.

The port has two modern container terminals, equipped with state of the art technology and IT systems. It has an annual cargo handling capacity of 2.5 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU). Transhipment cargo accounts for over 70 per cent of the total. Of the transhipment cargo, 85 per cent is Indian container business.

Throughput at the port has grown at an annual compound rate of 20 per cent per annum over the past 10 years.

The development of the port facilities has included:

• Ancillary support services
• Cargo logistics operations
• State-of-the-art warehousing facilities
• Multi-country cargo consolidation
• Container freight stations
• Computerised container depots

The port system has growing capacity and efficiency; port services performance increased by 16.9 per cent in 2005 compared to an increase of 12.8 per cent in 2004.

Source: http://www.austrade.gov.au/