The West Container Terminal of Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port, also referred to as Adani-JKH Terminal, is expected to start operations from the first quarter of calendar year 2025, Sri Lanka’s local media reports said.
The West Container Terminal is jointly developed by India’s Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd. and Sri Lanka’s largest private conglomerate John Keells Holding PLC.
At an investor Webinar on Nov. 6, JKH Chairperson Krishan Balendra said the first phase of the terminal will commence operations from the first quarter of next year, The Morning reported.
During this phase, the terminal will add 1.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units or TEUs to the capacity of Colombo Port, Balendra reportedly said. The overall capacity of the port is seen as 8 million TEU.
Balendra, as per the report, said the first batch of yard cranes and quay for terminal arrived in September. The commissioning of the cranes is likely to be completed by the last quarter of 2024, he reportedly added.
In a quarterly report shared with investors, JKH stated that the remainder of the terminal is expected to be completed by mid-2026, the Sri Lankan publican stated.
In November last year, Adani Group received $553 million in funding from the United States for its Colombo West International Terminal.
“This is the first time that the U.S. government, through its agency, DFC, has financed any port-related investment in Sri Lanka or any Adani-operated project,” Managing Director of Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd. Karan Adani had said.
Any project financed by the DFC is first approved by the US Congress, Adani had said. “It is an approval and reposing of faith in our group’s financial and execution capabilities.”
The tenure of the loan will be for 20 years, with an equity contribution of 30% by the partners. “We are looking at around 16% return on investments from the project,” he had noted.
