Sri Lanka to build South Container Terminal

Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), China Merchants Holding International (CMHI), Aitken Spence and Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT) have signed an agreement to build the South Container Terminal under the Colombo Port expansion project.

The $500m container terminal will be built and operated by CICT, a joint venture between SLPA, CMHI, and Aitken Spence.

China Merchants Holdings has a 55% stake in CICT, while Aitken Spence and SLPA have 30% and 15% stakes respectively.

Construction work of the South Container Terminal will start on 1 December 2011 and the first 600m of terminal will be operational in early 2014.

Upon completion the terminal will handle an estimated as 2.4Mteu of cargo and the entire terminal is scheduled to be completed by 2016.