Compounding the increasing fluidity of the regional transshipment market, Colombo Port has announced plans for the development of a deepwater port at a cost of about US$900 million.

The development of the new port, south of the present facilities, to double the present capacity of the port to about six million TEUs per annum.

The development of the new port, which is expected to offer the deepest draft in the region with depth alongside of 17 metres, will be based on a feasibility study by Australia’s Maunsell McIntyre in association with the Cornell Group of the US and Germany’s Sellhorn Ingenieurgesellschaft which found that the new port is technically and commercially feasible.

Detailed design and engineering study is now underway financed by the Asian Development Bank. The construction process is expected to start by 2003, and the first two berths of the terminal are expected to be ready by the end of 2005-06. The government is planning eventually to have 12 new berths in South Port, although two will be constructed at a time.

Three agencies will finance the most expensive part of the port, the US$ 250m breakwater by the World Bank, Japan Bank for International Co-operation and Export-Import Bank of Japan. 

The new port will have varying draft, initially from 17 metres to 21 metres to cope with even the “Malacca-Maxes”, (12,000 TEUs and more capacity vessels). The new port will have a quay length of 400 m each for the larger vessels.