SLPA pins hopes on East Container Terminal in Colombo

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) must keep a controlling stake in East Container Terminal (ECT) to ensure it runs a deep-water facility in the Port of Colombo according to Sagala Ratnayaka, Sri Lanka’s minister of ports and shipping.

The existing state-run facilities at the port – Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) and Unity Container Terminal (UCT) – do not have the sufficient depth to berth mega-ships.

Currently, the Port of Colombo has four container terminals but only one – Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT) operated by China Merchants Port Holdings – is a deep-water facility with the ability to handle the largest vessels in the world.