In the first four months of 2019, the Sri Lankan Ports Authority, which operates the island’s merchant shipping harbors, produced a profit of 10.5 billion rupees, the finance ministry said, as cargo volumes rose sharply.
The SLPA debt to banks during the era was 11,957 million rupees, it said for the first half of the year in a study on public finances. The SLPA produced a profit of 4.2 billion rupees in 2018, down from the past year’s 13.2 billion rupees, its lowest ever, following a foreign exchange benefit from removing loans taken to construct the southern port of Hambantota.
The study from the finance ministry said several steps were taken to boost the ability of SLPA ports with increasing competition from rival regional ports and shipping sector changes.
The ports of Colombo, Galle, Trincomalee, Kankasanthurai, Oluvil, Myliddy, Point Pedro and Karainagar are operating in Sri Lanka.
