Work begins to shift Male' Commercial Port services to Thilafushi

The Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) has commenced the practical work of transferring services from the Male' Commercial Port to the new Thilafushi port. In a post on X, MPL stated that the first step involved moving uncleared containers to the Thilafushi cargo terminal. The company also indicated that container stripping and emptying services at the Thilafushi terminal will begin soon. The new Thilafushi port is a $250 million project. The first phase was awarded to China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) in February 2026. According to MPL, the port will be developed on 20 hectares of land and will have the capacity to handle 300,000 TEUs (containers) per year—more than double the 135,000 TEUs handled at Male' last year. The government aims to fully relocate the Male' Commercial Port to Thilafushi by November 11, 2027. Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed had earlier stated in an MPL video that domestic port operations are expected to be completed by the end of November 2026 and international operations by July 2027. The relocation is seen as a permanent solution to the severe congestion and space constraints at the Male' port, which was developed on only five hectares in the 1980s. Congestion has led to clearance delays of over two weeks, resulting in high demurrage charges for businesses. As a temporary measure, the government extended the demurrage-free period from 80 to 124 hours and introduced 24-hour clearance services. Earlier this year, around 4,200 containers destined for the Maldives were stranded at Colombo port due to Male' port congestion. The government expects that with the new port, clearance time will be reduced from the current seven days to just 48 hours.