• Transhipment projected to exceed 6.21 m TEUs
• WCT to begin operations in Q1 2025, boosting capacity

Colombo Port expects a total container handling of 7.76 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2025 with transhipment expected to cross 6.21 million TEUs, the Ministry of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation said.

In a report tabled in Parliament on 7 March, the ministry said that it expects a base case of 7.76 million TEUs handled in 2025 with the high case at 9.49 million TEUs.

The report said that the total container handling is expected to cross 10.57 million TEUs by 2030 with transhipment handling at 8.70 million TEUs.

The port expects a total cargo handling of 13.3 million tons in dry bulk, liquid bulk and general cargo in 2025, with expected vehicle import units for the year at 13,998 units.

Colombo Port handled an all-time high of 7.79 million TEUs in 2024 with Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) handling the highest number of containers of 3.35 million TEUs and South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) handling 2.02 million TEUs.

Colombo port had 3,521 vessels arriving in 2024.

In the first two months of 2025, Colombo Port had a total container handling of 1.26 TEUs, out of which one million TEUs are transhipments.

According to Port Authority, West Container Terminal (WCT) is expected to commence operations by the end of first quarter of 2025, where in the first stage WCT would add around 20-30% of its proposed final capacity of 3.5 million TEUs to the Colombo Port.

East Container Terminal is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2026, which would bring 3.2-3.5 million TEUs to Colombo Port.