Port Move

Mar 15, 2010 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's Colombo port will get new cranes before the end of this year to replace aging equipment and improve cargo handling capacity, a senior official said.







Container traffic in Colombo, which is a hub for south Asian cargo, has begun to recover after dipping last year because of global recession. The Sri Lanka Ports Authority is spending 98 million dollars on getting new cranes and other cargo handling equipment, its chairman Priyath Wickrama said.

Three pier-side gantry cranes and four container transfer cranes will be delivered in the first phase of the equipment modernisation and two gantry cranes and 26 transfer cranes in the second.

"Most of the equipment will be delivered before the end of the year," Wickrama told a news conference.

The gantry cranes will be delivered by its manufacturers, Zhenhua Port Machinery Company (ZPMC) of China, one of the largest port crane manufacturers in the world.

The SLPA has also ordered 50 prime movers to move containers at its terminals from Malaysia, Wickrama said.

The equipment has been ordered after many delays and was needed to modernize the port's cargo handling capability, he said.