Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) has announced that the corporation will begin active work of transferring Male' Commercial Port to nearby island of Thilafushi within this year.

CEO of MPL, Shahid Ali spoke to press today stating that the port is currently extremely crammed. He said that there is a limit of two ships that can disembark at any given time and noted that the amount of cargo brought in is increasing every year.

Mr. Shahid noted that the amount of cargo brought in to Maldives had tripled every year since 2011. He noted that the smaller space posed difficulties in unloading cargo and said that it takes longer to unload space at the current port. He also said that a dock that is three or four times bigger than the current port is required.

Shahid said that transferring the Commercial port to Thilafushi will solve the issue. He said that the work to relocate the port will commence this year and is projected to reach completion within the next three years.

He further said that the unloading equipment owned by the corporation is damaged beyond repair and that majority of the equipment brought in on 2015 is now damaged. The CEO of MPL said that boats should be able to depart the port within 6 days if the equipment were not damaged.