Customs reveals congestion at Sri Lankan ports

Ships originally bound for Middle East seek to offload cargo in SL
Massive demand for warehouse space
No dip in revenue collected

Local ports are experiencing congestion as ships originally bound for the Middle East seek to offload cargo in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Customs reveals.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Sri Lanka Customs Director and Media Spokesperson Chandana Punchihewa stated that according to reports from terminals at local ports, there was a massive demand for warehouse space as many ships that were originally heading to the Middle East were now attempting to offload their goods in Sri Lanka, leading to port congestion.

“According to what we have heard, there has been an increase in ships calling at the port. Ships that were intended to go to the Middle East are now attempting to unload their goods here.

“Ships that are unable to go to Dubai, for example, are now looking to offload at a nearby port and make arrangements to transport their goods to Dubai when the opportunity arises later. Apparently, there are many ships like this,” he stated.

He further admitted that they had observed a dip in container traffic handled by Sri Lanka Customs, but claimed that they believed this to be largely due to the Chinese New Year rather than the conflict in the Middle East.

However, he clarified that despite this phenomenon, they had not observed a decrease in revenue collected as collections to date remained ahead of their target.

“Our collected revenue has already passed the target to date. According to our target, the collected revenue should have been Rs. 506 billion as of yesterday (11). We have already achieved Rs. 520 billion.

“Within the next few days, we should be able to exceed our three-month target. Whatever we collect thereafter during the course of this month will be additional,” he stated.

Punchihewa further revealed that as of end-January, the revenue collected had exceeded the month’s target by over Rs. 60 billion.

Source: The morning