The port expansion projects in Colombo and Hambantota can benefit from expanding regional trade as India and China grows, a media report said.
'South-South' trade could account for 40 percent of world trade in 2030 from 18 percent now, according to a Standard Chartered Bank report quoted by Bloomberg, a news service.Regional growth can support Sri Lanka ports even as US struggles with 9.2 percent unemployment, the report said.
Sri Lanka straddles the main East-West sea route that has brought sea farers to the country from ancient times.
Sri Lanka is expanding container capacity in Colombo with a 500 million dollar new terminal.
In 2010 container volumes in Colombo rose 22 percent to 4.16 million twenty foot equivalent units as the country's own external trade recovered. Colombo is expected to expand capacity to 10.8 million TEUs by 2015.
At the time a new port in Hambantota would bring the total capacity up to 12.8 million TEU's, Bloomberg quoted Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Priyath Wickrema as saying.
"Hambantota is the most suitable location to feed the Indian subcontinent,” Wickrama was quoted as saying.
"A combination of Colombo and Hambantota will compete with Dubai, Salalah (in Oman) and Singapore."
Though India is also building deep water ports, the country's external trade is expected to rise to 1.1 trillion dollars by 2014, boosting freight volumes to 1.2 billion metric tonnes from 544 million last year.
"We want Sri Lanka to be a mega port to feed this region,” he said. “We have a huge market here in South Asia," the Ports Chairman said.
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