Sri Lankan container terminal

 SRI LANKA's South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT) has reported record container volume growth in its Colombo port terminal last month.

SAGT handled 141,837 TEU in September, a new monthly record. "The stellar performance beat the monthly record set in July 2007 of 141,444 TEU," the terminal said.

SAGT handled 1,143,114 TEU over the first nine months of 2007, a rise of 16.8 per cent over the same period of 2006 and aims to break the 1.5 million TEU mark this year, port officials said.

Diversified Sri Lankan conglomerate John Keells Holdings reportedly needs to secure the bid for a new container terminal at Colombo to maintain growth.

But analysts say expansion would mean the terminal was nearing saturation and that growth could taper off at a time when India's trade volumes are ballooning, which in turn provides rising volumes for Sri Lankan ports.