CICT (Colombo International Container Terminal), the only deep water terminal in the country, with two others yet to be constructed, will see more megaships with Maersk Line taking on the delivery of 11 Triple-E class vessels that can carry over 20,500 container boxes over the next year. A majority of these megaships will be deployed to cover China, Southeast Asia and the Far East, which will be connected to Sri Lanka thrice a week. Milan Maersk, part of a new series of next generation Triple-E class container ships, made its maiden call on Colombo in October 2017. Apart from the three weekly services from Asia, Maersk also offers direct connections to North America, Europe and West Africa from Colombo, the shipping line says.
TEU CAPACITY
20,568 – MILAN MAERSK
15,650 – AVERAGE CONTAINERS
HANDLED DAILY IN THE COLOMBO PORT BY ALL TERMINAL OPERATORS COMBINED (TEU: A TWENTY-FOOT CONTAINER BOX).
CRANE REACH
IT MAY SEEM LIKE GANTRY CRANES AT THE CICT TERMINAL DON’T HAVE ENOUGH REACH TO LIFT BOXES O FF T HE TOP O F A T RIPLE-E CLASS SHIP THAT’S LOADED TO FULL CAPACITY. THIS IS TRUE FOR MOST PORTS ACROSS THE WORLD, AND MAXIMUM HEIGHT DOESN’T MATTER, ACCORDING TO MAERSK. IN ANY CASE, MEGASHIPS ARE RARELY LOADED TO FULL CAPACITY, AND THE MAXIMUM HEIGHT OF CRANES AND T HE D RAFT AT E ACH P ORT I S FACTORED IN WHEN PLANNING SHIP CARGO AND ROUTES. THE BREADTH REACH O F C RANES I S A MORE CRITICAL REQUIREMENT, AND THAT CICT HAS.
HOW CONTAINER BOXES ARE STACKED
20-24 CONTAINER BOXES IN A S TACK, W ITH HALF OF THEM BELOW DECK
23 STACKS BREADTHWISE
42 STACKS LENGTHWISE
Graphics by: Indika Sriyan Gammudali & Yomal Vajrajith Payagala