Are Indian ports a threat to Srilankan ports ?

No not any more, if Srilanka has the ability to run efficient ports. Says Richard Vokes, ADB country director in Sri Lanka. "Colombo would have to keep up and improve its efficiency levels to maintain its status as south Asia's container transhipment hub port."

India has decided to get maximum from international trade by expanding it's ports network around the India.Srilanka's shipping traders has expressed fears that India's plans to expand its ports might cause a drop in transhipment cargo traffic through Colombo.

Vokes said Colombo should be able to attract cargo as long as it provides an efficient service to shipping lines and shippers. "If Colombo port wants to retain its hub status it has to become more efficient, as Indian ports become more efficient."

So Colombo port expansion project comes up as a solution. The total investment cost of the Colombo Expansion Project is an estimated US$781 million. Asian Development Bank (ADB) granted a US$300 million loan to the SriLanka Ports Authority to build the breakwater for the new port and to dredge it deep enough to handle bigger ships.

However the Port expansion project few years behind the schedule due to legal and other political issues."Progress on the new breakwater is broadly on track, albeit a little bit behind schedule because of bad weather problems," Vokes said."We expect it to be ready by April 2010 and work on the new container terminal to start by mid-2010."