By: Staff Writer
September 17, Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka’s position alongside one of the world’s busiest shipping routes has long supported Colombo’s role as a transshipment gateway. However a senior Maersk executive has highlighted a larger economic question: why should the country capture value only from moving containers when international trade creates opportunities across an entire logistics ecosystem?
A.P. Moller-Maersk Singapore Managing Director Rene Piil Pedersen said Sri Lanka should move beyond traditional transshipment and develop stronger logistics capabilities capable of attracting foreign investment and generating higher-value economic activity.
“The real transformation happens when you combine a hub with strong logistics capability. That combination creates an ecosystem far bigger than the sum of its parts, and it’s also what attracts FDI,” he said during a panel discussion at the Colombo International Maritime and Logistics Conference 2026.
The distinction is significant. Transshipment primarily involves transferring cargo between vessels. A broader logistics ecosystem can include warehousing, distribution, packaging, labelling, consolidation, customs services, repair, maintenance, regional supply-chain management and other value-added activities.
Pedersen pointed to Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia as examples of markets where port infrastructure and logistics services have created opportunities beyond conventional container handling.
For Sri Lanka, such a transition could help diversify maritime earnings and reduce dependence on the volume of containers passing through Colombo. However, the opportunity also exposes the limitations of a system that may lack the infrastructure, policy consistency and investment conditions required to support more sophisticated trade-related activities.
“Sri Lanka has the opportunity to capture a much larger share of the value chain; not just in distribution, but in value-added services,” Pedersen said.
He cited Singapore’s free-trade-zone model, where imported products such as Scotch whisky can be stored and labelled according to the requirements of different destination markets. Such activities can generate economic value without the country manufacturing the underlying product.
The example illustrates how logistics can become an industry in its own right. Products can enter a country, undergo commercially useful processes and move onward to regional markets, creating employment, service demand and foreign-exchange earnings along the way.
But replicating such a model in Sri Lanka would require more than declaring a free-trade-zone ambition. Investors would need clarity on customs procedures, taxation, ownership, land access, labour regulations, re-export rules and the treatment of value-added activities. Delays or uncertainty in any of these areas could undermine Colombo’s competitiveness.
The same principle applies to marine fuels. Pedersen separately identified bunkering as a genuine opportunity, particularly as shipping moves towards green and alternative fuels. Together, the two proposals point to a broader maritime strategy in which Colombo becomes not merely a port of passage, but a centre for services surrounding global trade.
Pedersen urged Sri Lanka to “seize the day,” arguing that its geographic position and standing as a regional and global hub created a significant opportunity.
The policy challenge is to translate that geographic advantage into infrastructure, investment and predictable commercial rules. Without those foundations, Colombo may continue to handle large volumes of trade while capturing only a limited share of the economic value generated around it.
