New Delhi:

The first cargo ship is likely to reach Sri Lanka’s Adani-John Keells Holding (JKH) West Container Terminal (WCT) in Colombo Port in the first quarter of 2025, Srilankan news website The Morning Online reported quoting JKH chairperson Krishan Balendra.

The vessel’s arrival will add 1.5 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to the port capacity, Mr Balendra said.

The first phase of the WCT is likely to be operational in Q1 of 2025, which will add 1.5 million TEUs to the 8 million TEU capacity at Colombo Port, he said at the JKH investor webinar for Q2 of fiscal 2025.

The first batch of quay and yard cranes for WCT arrived in September, and the cranes’ commissioning is expected to be completed by Q4 of 2024, he added.

The JKH quarterly report said the quay length in the first phase will enable simultaneous servicing of two large vessels, which will enable a higher throughput once the first phase is complete.

“The remainder of the terminal is expected to be completed by mid-2026,” the report said.

Mr Balendra said the timeframe for operationalising the Sri Lanka Port Authority-run East Container Terminal (ECT) is unclear. Even if ECT becomes operational, only a part of the terminal will become operational, of which the capacity addition to the Colombo Port would not be material, he added.

The ECT project is expected to add a maximum of 2.4 million TEUs capacity to the Colombo Port once fully operationalised.

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