Flagship Westbound Mainline Loop Integrates Deepwater Automated Berths to Bypass Yard Density, Compress Feeder Transshipment Intervals, and Safeguard North Europe Transit Schedules


COLOMBO — In an operational realignment aimed at enhancing line-haul schedule integrity and insulating South Asian ocean export legs from regional transshipment congestion, Danish shipping and logistics integrator A.P. Moller – Maersk has officially shifted its westbound mainline port calls on the Middle East 2 (ME2) liner service to the newly operational Colombo West International Terminal (CWIT).

The structural berth reallocation transitions Maersk’s high-capacity westbound tonnage away from the port’s legacy container quays to CWIT's automated deepwater facility. Developed under a joint venture consortium led by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), John Keells Holdings, and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), the CWIT complex offers the draught margins and automated crane handling rates required to maintain fixed-day sailing rotations connecting Indian subcontinent manufacturing clusters to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.

Decompressing Subcontinental Feeder Gateways

Colombo serves as the primary transshipment gateway for the Indian Subcontinent, with over 70% of its container throughput originating from or destined for secondary ports across India and Bangladesh. However, the influx of diverted deep-sea container vessels and cascading transshipment volumes across the Indian Ocean rim had pushed average yard occupancy across Colombo’s older terminals past 80%.

The migration of Maersk's ME2 westbound calls to CWIT provides critical operational relief for regional feeder operators:

  • Accelerated Feeder Ingestion: High-frequency feeder shuttles arriving from Tuticorin, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, and Chittagong can cross-load export containers directly onto the ME2 westbound mainline with minimal yard staging friction.

  • Slashing Quayside Dwell Times: The integration of CWIT’s automated container yard stacks and electric rail-mounted gantry cranes (CRMGs) compresses container handling cycles, reducing average transshipment dwell times from 60 hours to under 30 hours.

  • Protecting European Arrival Dates: Eliminating multi-day berthing delays at Colombo allows westbound mega-containerships to clear the Indian Ocean and round the Cape of Good Hope without sacrificing downstream port berthing windows at Rotterdam, London Gateway, and Hamburg.

Safeguarding Bangladesh and Indian Apparel Supply Chains

The terminal transition delivers direct scheduling predictability to time-sensitive manufacturing and textile supply chains:

  • Ready-Made Garments (RMG): Exporters across Dhaka and Chittagong depend heavily on fast-transit ocean-feeder connections via Colombo to hit retail delivery dates in Europe. The upgraded CWIT terminal link prevents rolled-over boxes and protects supply-chain continuity for multinational retail brands.

  • South Indian Automotive and Industrial Machinery: Manufacturing clusters across Tamil Nadu and Karnataka gain fixed-day export sailings out of Ennore and Chennai, routed smoothly through CWIT into European automotive corridors.

"Predictability and berth availability govern global maritime logistics," stated a senior South Asian liner operations director in Colombo. "By shifting our ME2 westbound calls to CWIT, we leverage deepwater berths, automated quay cranes, and high-velocity yard mechanics. This ensures our subcontinental export customers maintain consistent, scheduled access to key European destination ports without the risks of localized terminal congestion."

With the westbound ME2 switch fully phased into commercial operations, Colombo Port Authority and terminal leadership project that CWIT's expanding handling footprint will decompress harbor infrastructure, reinforcing Colombo’s standing as the preeminent transshipment mega-hub of South Asia.