COLOMBO, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Colombo Port expects to handle 7.0 million containers in 2018, up 12.9 percent from the 6.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) handled in 2017 with joint marketing by three terminals, local media reports, quoting Ports Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said Saturday.

The minister said the Jaya Container Terminal of the state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), South Asia Gateway Terminal of the John Keells Holdings and Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) of China's CM Ports have inked a deal to jointly promote the port.

"Although the three terminals compete separately and individually, now they can work on a collaborative mission to operate vessels calling at the Port of Colombo," Samarasingha said.

In 2017 Colombo's container volumes including transhipment and domestic grew 8.3 percent to reach 6.2 million TEUs.

Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Parakrama Dissanayake said Sri Lanka's Colombo Port handled 564,155 containers in January, up 16.4 percent from a year earlier.

Under the collaboration deal, waiting time for all container vessels arriving at the Colombo Port will be minimized by allowing vessel to be accommodated at the earliest available terminal in addition to collaborative promotion of the port.

In 2017, the Colombo Port moved up two places to become the 25th busiest container port.

Samarasingha said that it was commendable to witness the Colombo Port had achieved great feats through public-private collaboration.