Sri Lanka’s container trans-shipment fell by 6.4 percent in March 2023 as against the same period last year. The island nation’s total containers handled in the first quarter of the year were down by 12.4 percent to 16.1 lakh twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs). According to official data from the Sri Lanka Port Authority, domestic traffic has also declined by 18.1 percent to 83,181 boxes due to a trade contraction. The domestic container volumes for the first three months of 2023 fell by 28.2 percent to 2.27 lakh TEUs. This was attributed to the slowdown in both exports and imports of Sri Lanka, which is a result of the contraction in the domestic economy as well as external factors.
India’s exports and imports, which are a major driver of Colombo trans-shipment, had also declined in March 2023. The decline in the container shipments indicates a challenging economic situation for Sri Lanka which will require strategic measures to arrest the decline.
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