Sri
Lanka
Ports
Authority
(SLPA)
is in
talks
with
international
shipping
lines on
new
services
through
Colombo
port
despite
the
global
downturn
in trade
which
has
reduced
cargo
volumes.
SLPA
chairman
Priyath
Wickrama
said
there
were
signs
cargo
volumes
were
picking
up as
the
global
economy
recovers
from
recession.
A new
computer
terminal
management
system
that
replaced
an aging
system
has
helped
increase
vessel
productivity
and won
new
services
for the
Jaya
Container
Terminal
(JCT),
the SLPA-run
main
transshipment
facility
in
Colombo,
Ports
Authority
sources
said.
The
SLPA is
now
talking
with a
couple
of
shipping
lines to
get new
services
to
improve
productivity
levels
and
efficiency
at JCT,
by the
end of
the
year.
Growth
in cargo
volumes
in
future
would
have to
be
handled
by the
state-run
JCT with
the
privatized
South
Asia
Gateway
Terminals,
across
the
harbor
basin,
having
reached
saturation.
Two
big
shipping
lines,
APL and
Maersk,
both
clients
of the
private
SAGT
facility,
recently
started
services
at JCT.
The
service
by
Maersk,
the
world's
biggest
shipping
line,
was a
new
service
that
started
from
September
1 and
not
business
shifting
from
SAGT.
And
APL's
service
which
had been
calling
at SAGT
was won
by the
JCT when
it was
about to
shift to
a rival
port.
Colombo
is South
Asia's
transshipment
hub,
transferring
cargo by
feeder
vessels
from
ports on
the
Indian
sub-continent
to big
mainline
ships on
the main
East-West
trade
route.
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