Trincomalee and Galle harbours will operate 24/7 with night navigation before the end of this year, Ports, Shipping and Southern Development Minister Sagala Ratnayaka said. 

The Minister said the Trincomalee harbour, a natural resource with immense economic potential will have night navigation in April. The project is supported by a JPY 1 Billion grant by the Japan International Cooperation System (JICS). 

The Minister added speedy measures would be adopted to set up new radar systems and other necessary infrastructure to introduce night navigation to the Trincomalee harbour which will be transformed into a port that can handle more volume of activities, including more general cargo ships. 

"The government has earmarked the Trincomalee area as a potential export hub. Transformation of Trincomalee Harbour into a highly competitive port will be a key pillar of our export hub strategy," the Minister explained. 

Trincomalee Harbour is considered the second best Natural Harbor in the world and has up to 10 times the land area as the Colombo port. Its current dimensions are Water area up to 1630 Hectares, an entrance channel of 500 Meters and a land area of 5261 hectares.

"We also have plans to introduce night navigation to the Galle harbour before the end of the year. Apart from the economic and industrial aspects, we will also look at the tourism aspect when developing the Galle harbour," the Minister explained