The Colombo harbour is on its way to hitting an all-time record of handling around seven million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) by the end of this year, according to Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Harbour Master Captain Athula Hewavitharana, who pointed out that the Colombo Port has been recognised as one of the best in the world and with the highest growth as a result of the combined efforts of all operators to promote the harbour.

“Sri Lanka still needs to come out with better competitive rates and also offer a more efficient service,” noted Hewavitharana.

In line with this, SLPA plans to introduce an online application and approval system to issue licences for port related matters within 24 hours.

Fresh Expressions of Interest (EOI) to develop the Galle harbour as a tourism harbour have also been called and would be operated as a public-private partnership project.