The SriLankan Airlines Cargo Centre at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo handled a record 146,883 metric tonnes of cargo in 2004, and looks set to do even better this year, a company representative said.
The record for the big-gest volume of cargo handled in a month, 12,078 tonnes in March 2003, was broken seven times in 2004, with the highest being in October at 13,949 tonnes. This has already been beaten twice this year, and the new high is 14,597 tonnes achieved in January, said Janaka Munasinghe, manager of cargo operations at SriLankan.
"These records have been achieved through much hard work and dedication and are a tribute to our staff, far surpassing the present Cargo Centre's designed capacity of approximately 125,000 tonnes," said Munasinghe.
"We expect to do even better when the Cargo Centre's new warehouse is completed in the fourth quarter of this year, which will double our cargo handling capacity."
Cargo totals have soared as SriLankan Cargo continues to explore new avenues with its dedicated freighter service, part of a strategy to make Colombo a hub, Munasinghe said.
