Container storage demand rises at Colombo, Hambantota Ports
With shipping lines halting operations to the Gulf region as the conflict escalates, containers headed for the region continues to be stacked up at the Ports of Colombo and Hambantota.
At present the congestion that existed previously at the Colombo port is being cleared with 80 per cent of the yard in use.
Vessels continue to off load containers meant for the Gulf region with 2000TEUs recorded by Friday and this is expected to continue to increase as more shipping lines continue to call over at the Colombo Port.
Port Authority (SLPA) Chairman Dr. Parakrama Dissanayaka told the Sunday Times Business: “We are handling containers bound to the Middle East transhipped in Port of Colombo.”
He noted, “We have a space crunch but we are assisting to store containers in Hambantota and Colombo.”
In Colombo the SLPA is temporarily creating space to provide the necessary capacity needed to store containers being off-loaded at the port in a bid to help the shipping lines, he said.
Shipping lines have stopped operations to the Gulf region ever since the war broke out in West Asia on Sunday.
Exporters Association Vice President and Sri Lanka Shippers Council Vice President Nalaka Ratnayaka said that cargo to West Asia covering Jabel Ali, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Port of Hormuz, destinations in Yemen, Jeddah were immediately stopped and lines have stopped accepting cargo headed for these destinations until further notice.
Containers with cargo already at the Colombo Port and awaiting vessels to arrive will continue to remain and shipping lines have noted that even if their vessels do call over at the port these containers will not be picked up until further notice.
Meanwhile vessels currently sailing to the Gulf region would be parking at terminals and ports enroute, he said.
Shipping lines are currently concerned about the crew and as a result have asked the carriers to call over at safe ports and remain there until further notice.
Some shipping lines had resumed operations on the Red Sea channel a few months back and are now said to travel via the Cape of Good Hope as they did in the past when tensions broke out in the region and the Houthi rebels attacked ships.
There is a varying war surcharge being levied by shipping lines ranging between US$1000 – 3000.
Shipping lines however, continue to operate to the US, Europe and Japan sectors, it was noted.
Cruise lines continue to call at the Colombo Port as scheduled with vessels arriving on Thursday and Friday and more expected on March 9, 11 and 24. Of the five cruise lines scheduled for next month, one of these has cancelled their visit. All vessels are said to arrive from Europe.
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