Why Colombo East Container Terminal Still Isn’t Working

Colombo Telegraph reports that the East Container Terminal (ECT) at the Port of Colombo was intended to serve a major Asia–Europe transshipment route and generate foreign exchange. The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) owns and developed the terminal, which the outlet says remains short of its intended operations despite significant public investment.

Colombo Telegraph reports that the ECT’s first phase was completed in mid-2015, but that the terminal did not handle the container operations for which it was built for five years. The outlet compares this with CICT, where construction began in December 2011 and operations started in July 2013, and CWIT, whose construction began in early 2022 and whose first phase began operating in April 2025.

Colombo Telegraph says that, from October 2014 to February 2021, the Cabinet and related bodies made a series of changing decisions. These included awarding and later cancelling a crane contract, endorsing and abandoning both a joint venture and a public–private partnership, and signing a three-party cooperation memorandum with India and Japan in 2019. In February 2021, the decision was made for SLPA to develop and operate the ECT as a wholly owned facility.

Colombo Telegraph attributes the delays to weaknesses in design, procurement coordination and governance, alongside leadership instability. The outlet says the idle asset and foregone expected revenue were borne by SLPA, and argues that further delays continue to carry costs for the country. The report provides no further operational timetable.