The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) said port volumes are beginning to improve, after volumes fell in 2009 because of the global economic crisis, reported The Financial Daily.

The container throughput volumes of SLPA, in comparison to January 2009, have shown a positive growth for the same period in 2010.

Compared to the total of 136,994 TEUs handled by SLPA for the month of January 2009, SLPA has been able to handle 165,400 TEUs for the same period in 2010 indicating a positive growth of 20.7 percent.

This has also elevated the overall throughput volumes at the Colombo Port by 26.7 percent in January 2010 compared to the same period of 2009.