COLOMBO: Transhipment container volumes at the Port of Colombo stagnated in August, after recording a positive growth for the second straight month and reaching pre-pandemic levels in July, mainly due to an acute shortage of containers in the region, impacting the export volumes in India and Bangladesh.

 

The container transshipment volumes grew by one percent year-on-year (YoY) to 535,162 TEUs in August, after an 11.4 percent YoY increase in July. The key ports in India and Bangladesh are facing an acute shortage of containers to export their goods, as the exports bounced bank in the two countries, with the easing of pandemic-related travel restrictions.

 

Further, congestion in the Colombo Port running up to two to three weeks also contributed to delays in shipments for Indian exporters, according to media reports.

 

The Colombo Port is the second biggest port for Indian containers and with around 70 percent of the port’s transshipment throughput coming from India.

 

With the marginal growth seen in transshipment volumes in August, the decline in overall volumes up to August this year narrowed to 3.5 percent YoY, reaching 3.88 million TEUs.

 

The transshipment throughput at the Port of Colombo started to decline from March to up until end-June.

 

Meanwhile, restowing activities rebounded to pre-COVID levels, recording 18.2 percent YoY to 14,536 TEUs in August.