Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation Minister Bimal Rathnayake informed Parliament yesterday (26) that at present there is no congestion at the Colombo Port and therefore there is no problematic situation regarding the releasing of containers.
The Minister highlighted that the profit of the Colombo Port has increased by 66 percent compared to the time during the previous government due to the increased efficiency of workers after the NPP Government took over from the previous corrupt regime. He said that partial operations will commence in the East Terminal from October 2025.
“However, presently there exists a problematic situation concerning Inter Terminal Trucking (ITT) at the Colombo Port due to the increase in the number of containers in all the terminals,” the Minister said in response to a question raised by Opposition MP Kavinda Jayawardhana.
“Several recommendations approved by the Cabinet Sub-Committee have been implemented to speed up the releasing of containers at the Colombo Port. As such, the Inter Terminal Trucking that was being monopolized by one company till recently has been stopped and the Government has recommended distributing the ITT among many other private companies to increase the efficiency and speed of releasing containers.
“A separate Custom Inspection Bay was constructed in Bloemendhal between February and March this year (2025) for a large numbers of containers of other government agencies, to avoid congestion at the Colombo Port. A dashboard has been installed to monitor and display the overall operations at the Colombo Port.”
“One of the main causes for the congestion at the Colombo Port is due to not constructing the East Terminal at the right time, in 2023, by the previous government due to fraud and corruption,” the Minister said.
