Ranjith de Silva, additional secretary to the Ministry of Ports and Aviation, said the new organisation would make use of the wealth of data available with the bureau and do commercially oriented research to help businesses.
This would help shippers and ships' agents to make their business more efficient and profitable.
The CFB's role weakened and it lost its regulatory powers with the liberalisation of shipping that came with changing economic and political conditions, he told a meeting to announce the revamping of the CFB.
The CFB has now tied up with the Sri Jayawardenepura University which would do the research, he added.
Right now the CFB makes only limited use of data available with the bureau which is put out in the form of monthly and annual reports of cargo and vessel movements.
Officials said the CFB's new name had not yet been decided nor the full range of it