Colombo had scored 28.6 points in the Drewry Connectivity Index in 2017, with 59 mainline services calling each week. Under South Asia, Colombo Port was ranked the best connected.

Colombo Port had been ranked ahead of the Savannah Port in the US with 53 calls and Jebel Ali in the UAE with 52 calls.

Colombo was just behind Antwerp in Belgium with 61 calls.

Overall, Shanghai was the best connected Port with 172 mainline calls a week and a score of 100 points, followed by Ningbo with 163 calls and 94.8 points.

Singapore was third with 158 mainline calls and a score of 91.9 points.

Based on a Llyod’s ranking in 2016, Colombo was ranked the 25th busiest port in the world in terms of volumes.

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority announced last week that Colombo Port expects to handle 7.0 million containers in 2018, up 12.9 percent from the 6.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) handled in 2017 through a joint marketing by the state run Jaya Container Terminal,  the South Asia Gateway Terminal of the John Keells Holdings and Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) of China’s CM Ports.

Ports Minister, Mahinda Samarasingha, said the three companies had inked a historic deal and this would lead to Colombo emerging as one of the best connected ports in the world.

Although the three terminals compete separately and individually, now they can work on a collaborative mission to operate vessels calling at the Port of Colombo,” Samarasingha said.

Under the collaboration deal, waiting time for all container vessels arriving at the Colombo Port will be minimized by allowing vessel to be accommodated at the earliest available terminal in addition to collaborative promotion of the port.

Samarasingha said that it was commendable to witness the Colombo Port had achieved great feats through public-private collaboration.