Sri Lanka, Oct. 6 -- Container handling at the Port of Colombo recorded a 10.35% year-on-year increase to reach 5.99 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) during the first eight months of 2026, driven primarily by transhipment operations.

Central Bank data showed that total container throughput for August expanded 4.7% year-on-year to 776,300 TEUs, despite a sharp drop in domestic container traffic during the month.

Transhipment volumes rose 7.8% to 638,843 TEUs in August, lifting cumulative transhipment for the January to August period by 10.9% to 4.83 million TEUs and accounting for over 80% of total port traffic.

Conversely, domestic container traffic serving local imports and exports fell 12.5% in August to 99,373 TEUs, thoug...