Sri Lanka Opens $500 Million Port Terminal Built by China

[t_co]

Sri Lanka Opens $500 Million Port Terminal Built by China - Bloomberg

Sri Lanka opened a $500 million container terminal at Colombo Port today, the biggest investment in the island's harbours, as the nation seeks to upgrade its infrastructure with Chinese help.
The terminal, built and operated by China Merchants Holdings International Co. (144), will handle 2.4 million containers a year and boost Colombo's capacity by almost half, according to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. President Mahinda Rajapaksa inaugurated the facility.
The new terminal is part of Sri Lanka's plan to add 7.2 million boxes of capacity and deeper berths at its main port to attract larger vessels. As Rajapaksa seeks investments after the end of a three-decade civil war, China is tightening its embrace of the island by committing at least $3.7 billion since 2005 to help expand ports to power generation.
"Sri Lanka has been looking toward China because of the availability of funding," said Dushni Weerakoon, deputy director at the Institute of Policy Studies in Colombo. "With Sri Lanka's plans to create a hub concept, expansion of the Colombo port makes good economic sense."
The Export-Import Bank of China has funded investment projects including Sri Lanka's first four-lane expressway, second international airport and a port in Hambantota city. Japan and India are also seeking closer ties with Sri Lanka as the island lies on the main shipping lanes connecting the Far East, West Asia, Africa and Europe.
New Terminal
The Ports Authority is also building another container terminal with an annual capacity to handle 2.4 million boxes at the Colombo port, which will be ready for operations early next year, Chairman Priyath Wickrama said today.
Colombo's three other terminals had the capacity to handle 5 million 20-foot equivalent units. China Development Bank provided a $350 million loan to China Merchants in May 2012 for the company's terminal, in which the Hong Kong-based port operator holds an 85 percent stake. State-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority owns the balance.
Sri Lanka's port developments have helped attract $2 billion worth related private investments, Wickrama said.
The Asian Development Bank will promote more public-private infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka, said Zhao Xiaoyu, a vice-president at the Manila-based lender. The ADB earlier provided a $300 million loan for the construction of breakwater infrastructure for the Colombo port expansion.
Sri Lanka is seeking economic growth of 7.5 percent this year, after its expansion cooled to 6.4 percent in 2012 as a faltering global economy sapped demand for the nation's tea and textiles. The country is experiencing a resurgence in tourism after the nation's armed forces defeated separatist rebels in May 2009.

@HeinzGud

 

[trackwhack]

No worries, we have allayed all Lankan fears by reassuring them that the distance from Kanyakumari to Hambantota is just one Bramhos away.

 

[HeinzGud]

We all take our rightful place in IOR region...... while India struggling to catch the pace with us in development.

 

[hit&run]

We all take our rightful place in IOR region...... while India struggling to catch the pace with us in development.

You are not doing any favour to anyone by finding your right place. Every nation does so.

Now mind your own business than commenting on India.

 

[nimo_cn]

Peace and social stability is bringing prosperity to Sri Lanka, congratulations!

Sent from my HUAWEI T8951 using Tapatalk 2

 

[t_co]

No worries, we have allayed all Lankan fears by reassuring them that the distance from Kanyakumari to Hambantota is just one Bramhos away.

Ahh, the classic South Block method of conducting diplomacy by threatening your neighbor's infrastructure with cruise missiles.

 

[nimo_cn]

No worries, we have allayed all Lankan fears by reassuring them that the distance from Kanyakumari to Hambantota is just one Bramhos away.

dont be childish. just for your record, Sri Lanka did the courtesy of inviting Indians to invest on the port, but that offer was declined by India. That is where Chinese step in.

Sent from my HUAWEI T8951 using Tapatalk 2

 

[t_co]

dont be childish. just for your record, Sri Lanka did the courtesy of inviting Indians to invest on the port, but that offer was declined by India. That is where Chinese step in.

Sent from my HUAWEI T8951 using Tapatalk 2

Pshhh, why should India invest in ports to make friends with its neighbors, when it can just invest in rapidly depreciating Russian missiles and French jets to scare them into submission?

 

[trackwhack]

To both the CCP clowns above.

Sri Lanka will behave. Our defence establishments are not hollow. The day we start seeing Chinese military activity, things will change. I forsee the events following that incident as a demarche and if no change a blockade. Lets see if the PLAN has the balls. You want your Cuba situation, go for it.

 

[amoy]

Colombo Port at a very optimal location on east west trade lanes, as a transhipment hub. The next Singapore!

Also tourism industry must be a key sector for development, which was reported to be quite good prior to the civil war.

 

[nimo_cn]

To both the CCP clowns above.

Sri Lanka will behave. Our defence establishments are not hollow. The day we start seeing Chinese military activity, things will change. I forsee the events following that incident as a demarche and if no change a blockade. Lets see if the PLAN has the balls. You want your Cuba situation, go for it.

Sri Lanka will always behave as long as it is in the interest of the coutry.

Building a world class port is in the interest of Sri Lanka, since India is unwilling to do Sri Lanka a favor, Sri Lanka has to find another one who is willing to give a hand.

Then why are Indians whining like hell after port is finished? Why are you threatening innocent Sri Lanka for a port which you had the chance to build?

If India doesnt change the way it treats its neighbors, i personally think it is not a bad idea to invite Chinese to keep the belligerent Indians in check.

Sent from my HUAWEI T8951 using Tapatalk 2

 

[natarajan]

Pshhh, why should India invest in ports to make friends with its neighbors, when it can just invest in rapidly depreciating Russian missiles and French jets to scare them into submission?

INDIA never show aggression first ,it will always defend when someone attacks it.All weapons are for defending purpose

 

[t_co]

To both the CCP clowns above.

Sri Lanka will behave. Our defence establishments are not hollow. The day we start seeing Chinese military activity, things will change. I forsee the events following that incident as a demarche and if no change a blockade. Lets see if the PLAN has the balls. You want your Cuba situation, go for it.

You 'foresee' one thing; Sonia Gandhi foresees another

 

[vram]

Sri Lanka will always behave as long as it is in the interest of the coutry.

Building a world class port is in the interest of Sri Lanka, since India is unwilling to do Sri Lanka a favor, Sri Lanka has to find another one who is willing to give a hand.

Then why are Indians whining like hell after port is finished? Why are you threatening innocent Sri Lanka for a port which you had the chance to build?

If India doesnt change the way it treats its neighbors, i personally think it is not a bad idea to invite Chinese to keep the belligerent Indians in check.

Sent from my HUAWEI T8951 using Tapatalk 2

LOL!! do you know the primary purpose of this port???



India accounts for 62% of SL port's transshipment

Cargo to and from India accounts for 62 per cent of Colombo port's transshipment business, according to Priyath Bandu Wickrama, chairman of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA).

At present, Colombo is handling 16 per cent of India's transshipment of 10 million TEU, but it hopes to increase it to 23 per cent, given the port's expansion plans, he told foreign correspondents stationed here.

Most of the current AND FUTURE business for the colombo port is FROM and TO INDIA only. basically when India grows it pull the economic growth of the rest of the region with it to a certain extent.
And if India gets annoyed this is what happens..

Change in India's trans-shipment policy hits Colombo

SRI LANKA BRIEF: Change in India's trans-shipment policy hits Colombo

Basically this is known to the Lankans themselves. Even the Director of this port is very careful when he talks about the Chinese assistance. You cannot bite your biggest and future customer..
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/news/sri-lankas-colombo-port-takes-aim-at-mega-container-vessels/53350169


Check out my other thread to see how much colombo is truely dependent in India for its growth and survival.

 

[Kito]

LOL!! do you know the primary purpose of this port???



India accounts for 62% of SL port's transshipment



Most of the current AND FUTURE business for the colombo port is FROM and TO INDIA only. basically when India grows it pull the economic growth of the rest of the region with it to a certain extent.
And if India gets annoyed this is what happens..


SRI LANKA BRIEF: Change in India's trans-shipment policy hits Colombo

Basically this is known to the Lankans themselves. Even the Director of this port is very careful when he talks about the Chinese assistance. You cannot bite your biggest and future customer..
Sri Lanka's Colombo Port takes aim at mega container vessels


Check out my other thread to see how much colombo is truely dependent in India for its growth and survival.

Don't you feel handling 23% of Indian transshipment via one foreign port has a risk to your country? This is indirect way of gaining control of indian economy by Chinese, also securing their own routes.

 

[Kito]

 

[amoy]

Sri Lanka Opens Expanded Port to Take Large Ships - ABC News

Sri Lanka marked the opening of its expanded Colombo port Monday, a $400 million project that aims to transform the Indian Ocean island into a regional trading hub by allowing a new, bigger generation of cargo vessels to dock.

The project will enable the port to double its current capacity by accepting mega-cargo ships that hold as many as 18,000 shipping containers to enter the port, helping to reduce freight rates and making Sri Lanka a more attractive port of call.

The port's capacity will eventually be increased from the current 5 million containers to 12 million containers per year, according to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority.

The additional capacity will help the impoverished country of 20 million to increase its share of shipping in the Indian subcontinent, according to the Asian Development Bank, which helped fund the project.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa was on hand to commission the first of three container terminals at the port. The terminal is a joint venture between Hong Kong-based China Merchants Holdings International and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. Each terminal will have the capacity to handle 2.4 million containers annually.

The port was deepened to 18 meters (59 feet) and plans allow for the port to be made as deep as 23 meters, should a new generation of deep-drafted vessels come on line, according to the authority, which manages the country's ports. It has a 6.8-kilometer (4.2-mile) breakwater and 285 hectares of harbor basin.

Authority chairman Priyath B. Wickrama said the rapid and steady growth in cargo shipments in the Indian Ocean rim countries over the past few decades led to the expansion of Colombo's port. He added that the growth in size of container vessels has led shippers to demand deep-water channels, deeper draft berths and larger turning circles.

The expansion was funded with $300 million loaned by the Asian Development Bank and $100 million provided by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority and Ceylon Petroleum Corp.

Sri Lanka has been spending heavily to upgrade its infrastructure since the end of the civil war in 2009.

Many of the big projects, including new port, airport and a highway in the island's southern and a coal power plant, have been funded by China.

Neighboring India and Japan have also funded projects in Sri Lanka, which is located on the main sea lines between Asia and the West.

The expansion of Colombo Port as a "mega hub" caters for the industrial trend of shipping with phase-in of bigger and bigger ships in order to reduce unit cost.

With boosting infra & ideal location SL shall seize the chance to attract manufacturing as well which is shifting out of "expensive" places.

Look at Bangladesh and Cambodia, which is growing fast with labor intensive industries (textile etc.).

 

[t_co]

Lovely pics @amoy - are those facilities large enough to service the Liaoning and nuclear submarines?

 

[SamwiseTheBrave]

Lovely pics @amoy - are those facilities large enough to service the Liaoning and nuclear submarines?

nope - bcoz the facilities will be reduced to ash and dust by the SU-30MKI`S before your Navy can even come within a 30-mile berthing radius

 

[t_co]

nope - bcoz the facilities will be reduced to ash and dust by the SU-30MKI`S before your Navy can even come within a 30-mile berthing radius

Are you calling for India to surprise attack Sri Lankan ports if they allow Chinese naval ships to dock in peacetime?