Developing Sri Lanka’s ports

The Cabinet has approved a proposal by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as Minister of Ports, to rehabilitate and further develop the Kankesanturai (KKS) port with Indian aid. According to a government statement, this project is considered important ‘in the context of the security of the country and the economic and social development of the northern peninsula.’

KKS has been identified with Jambukola - the main seaport for passenger traffic with India - which was one of a number of ports with which this island was blessed from ancient times along its coastline.

The oldest recorded was Thambapanni, where the legendary King Vijaya was reputed to have landed - probably the Hippuri mentioned by Pliny and generally identified with Kudremalai on the north-west coast. However, it was just one of many which existed from prehistoric times.

Egyptian mummies

Ancient Egyptian mummies have been found to contain Cinnamon, so there must have been trade with Sri Lanka in pre-Vijayan times. James Emerson Tennant considered Galle to be the Biblical Tarshish, whence King Solomon received peacocks and spices.

Among the ports mentioned in the ancient chronicles were Mahatitta (near Mannar), Urutota (Kayts) and Godavaya (Gota pabbata pattana) on the south coast, which was a major entrepot for East-West trade from about the first century CE.

Ibn Batuta mentions ports at Puttalam, Chilaw, Dondra, Galle and Colombo, while Ma Huan and Marignolli mention Beruwela. There were other ports at Trincomalee and Hambantota, as well as smaller havens dotted around the coast.

In the 19th century, Colombo and Galle competed for the position of main seaport, particularly after coal-burning steam ships became popular and increased in size. The British Admiralty favoured developing Galle as a coaling station, at an estimated cost of about Rs 300,000 (multiply a thousand-fold to get the value in today’s money).

However, the colonial government decided that Colombo would more usefully serve the plantations of the interior and the harbour was built at a cost of about Rs 700,000. The greater cost was due to Colombo not being a natural port, as Galle was.

Largest container port

A major naval base was built at Trincomalee and Galle and Point Pedro were kept as minor harbours, but port facilities were concentrated in Colombo.

This key entrepot was kept so busy with shipping from all over that it was called ‘the Clapham Junction of the East’.

Containerisation, begun in the mid-1970s, led to further expansion. Colombo became the 30th largest container port in the world and South Asia’s major trans-shipment port (with about one sixth of the region’s traffic).

The Colombo South Harbour Development Project, which will triple container-handling capacity, is expected to increase trans-shipment traffic, further enhancing the port’s status as a shipping hub in this fast-growing region.

It was the decision to site the country’s main port in Colombo that led to it becoming the metropolis it is today. It became the financial and commercial capital, with the country’s wealth concentrated within its limits, diffusing into its hinterland but not into the broader countryside.

In consequence of this lop-sided development, the inequality between the city and the rural areas was exacerbated, a state of affairs aptly summed up by the Sinhala rusticism ‘kolombata kiri, gamata kekiri’ (‘Colombo has milk, but the village only has cooking melons’).

This unhealthy centralisation of economic power needed to be dissipated, but at the same time the rapid economic growth which was its corollary could not overly be trammelled.

The desired outcome could perhaps be achieved by the creation of additional ports in other areas, which might be expected to reproduce - albeit to a lesser extent - the economic growth that has occurred in the Colombo area.

New ports

This has been the doctrine underlying the construction of new ports at Hambantota and Oluvil, and the development of Galle and Trincomalee as regional commercial and tourist harbours.

Another concern, that of security, was highlighted during the recent conflict.

Had the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam succeeded in their plans to attack Colombo harbour, the country could have faced starvation. Hence the development of alternative ports became a necessity. In the case of Hambantota, it was decided to build a harbour which would eventually rival that at Colombo.

The reasoning behind this was the same as that fundamental to the argument between Colombo and Galle in the 19th century - the former lies far from the main sea route past Dondra Head and is hence less desirable for coaling or bunkering.

Hambantota was also desirable because it possessed a nearly virgin hinterland, allowing for almost unlimited development - whereas the higher property costs in Colombo preclude greater expansion inland from the port.

This hinterland had hitherto been among the poorest areas in Sri Lanka, so the investment would result in spectacular gains in social terms.

Economic growth

KKS, like Oluvil, will be far less ambitious. The aim here is to reduce costs in transporting goods to and from the north of the country. This could be expected to revive and rejuvenate the province’s commerce, which was moribund as a result of the recently ended conflict.

The Jaffna peninsula used to be a centre of economic growth, particularly in the agricultural sector. With post-conflict reconstruction under way there, it has the potential to be a major growth hub. The development of KKS would facilitate this process considerably.

It is significant that the government feels sufficiently confident of its capability to handle any centrifugal forces which may be caused by increased overseas trade through a northern seaport.

Half a century ago, much of the trade between Maldives and Sri Lanka was carried out from Addu, the southernmost atoll in the island chain.

However, following the suppression of the separatist Suvadhivu Republic, the Maldives government ordained that, to increase the country’s cohesion, all overseas trade was to pass through the port of Male.

This is patently not the case in relation to KKS. The development of the port there is likely greater to integrate the peninsular into the island’s economy than otherwise.