Businesses in Bangladesh including the apparel exporters are keen on using Colombo as a trans-shipment port again for exporting overseas if Sri Lanka can ensure smooth services even as owing to the political and economic crises in the island nation earlier, many businesses in Bangladesh who used to ship via the Colombo Port preferred Singapore and India over Sri Lanka.
This is as per media reports which maintained the Lankan shipping stakeholders have underlined they were offsetting the political and economic crises gradually even as speaking at a discussion at the Bangladesh Shipping Agents’ Association office in Chittagong recently, Keith D Bernard, who is the Chairman of Sri Lanka Ports Authority said Colombo authorities were working around the clock to normalise the situation.
It may be mentioned here that close to 40 per cent of Bangladesh’s exports are shipped to overseas markets from Chittagong via Colombo Port while the remaining 60 per cent of export items are transported through Malaysia’s Port Klang and Tanjung Pelepas or Singapore.
However, trans-shipment through the Colombo Port took a hit and was suspended on 10th May this year after political clashes flared up across Sri Lanka.
