Hambantota Inland Harbour

Why is the Hambantota harbour or port so special when there are two significant harbours the Colombo International harbour and the natural harbour at Trincomalee, in the country already? It is because the harbour under construction at Hambantota is said to be the largest international inland harbour in the South East region, extending over thousand of acres of land, once completed.

The project which is estimated to cost about 1.5 billion US dollars is being carried out in phase. The foundation stone for the first phase was laid way back in 2007 (October 30) and the construction work, done with Chinese and local expertise began in January 2008. It is expected to be completed by November this year. More than 85 per cent of the funding and technical expertise is provided by the Chinese government for this project, which is the first of its kind.

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) says that initially the Hambantota port will function as a Service and Industrial Port and gradually be developed into a Transhipment Port. Under the first phase, two berths to handle cargo and fuel will be constructed. A sum of US dollars 300 million or more will be constructed. A sum of US dollars 300 million or more will be spent to carry out all the work under the first phase and another US dollars 800  million for the second and third phases. The port is expected  to be completely by 2014. As Sri Lanka is geographically placed between the straits of Malacca and the Suez Canal and the Hambantota Port lies 10 nautical miles off the world's busiest east-west shipping route, where over 36,000 ships including about 4,500 oil tankers pass by. The Sri Lanka Ports Authority says that once it is completed, it would be capable of berthing between 35-40 ships at any given time as it is the biggest inland port constructed in this 21st century. It is initially expected to service around 2,500 of the 70,000 or more cargo ships that ply through the Colombo International Port. 

This unique port will comprise container terminals, bunkering facilities, a tank farm, dockyard and a 15 floor administrative complex.