Thursday, 20th November 2014
The Port of Colombo delivered on its promise of establishing Colombo as the regional maritime hub when the brand new 16,000+ TEU ship MV MSC New York berthed at Colombo International Container Terminals Ltd. (CICT) yesterday.
The terminal is owned and operated by China Merchants Holdings International Company Ltd. (CMHI).
CICT General Manager Marketing and Commercial Tissa Wickramasinghe said: “Today is indeed a very proud day for the Port of Colombo, CICT and the local shipping industry. Having completed the construction and equipping of the South Harbour Container Terminal in a record time of 28 months and after being in operation for just over one year, CICT has managed to attract one of the largest vessels afloat to berth at our terminal.”
He added: “This was only made possible due to the extensive and aggressive marketing of the Port of Colombo, which had been done jointly with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. In building new infrastructure to compete with other regional hub ports, it is necessary to implement changes like what we at CICT have achieved through very high standards of service delivery, productivity and customer service.”
He further stated: “The long-term success of CICT is tied up with the future success of the Port of Colombo and in that respect CICT will be using the access to the marketing resources of their parent company CMHI in achieving Colombo’s vision to be the regional maritime hub – our team at CICT is very excited about today’s event and look forward to bringing in more ships of this capacity on a regular basis in the near future.”
The New York is owned and operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), which is the second largest container shipping company in the world and is also the number one customer by volume at CICT. This shipping line is represented in Sri Lanka through MSC Lanka, which has played a very crucial role in attracting these ultra large carriers to call the Port of Colombo.
The New York has the capacity to carry 16,650 TEUs and on completion of cargo operations at CICT, it will have a full load of 14,896 TEUs. The vessel is on its maiden voyage after having taken delivery from the shipbuilding yard in Korea on 20 October.
The vessel is operating on a service speed of 18 knots and burning 130 tons of fuel per day. This is indeed a far cry from the ships carrying 8,000 TEUs and burning almost double the fuel per day. The total complement of crew is only 23, thereby providing massive savings through the economies of scale.
Shipping industry sources were of the view that the state-of-the-art CICT facility being the only deepwater terminal in the whole of South Asia capable of handling the largest vessels afloat would be the major catalyst in achieving the much-cherished vision of the nation and the Port of Colombo of being the maritime hub of the region.
From : http://www.ft.lk/2014/11/20/cict-attracts-first-ever-16000-teu-ship-to-port-of-colombo/
