DHL mulls Sri Lanka as SA’s global logistics hub

DHL, a leading air and ocean freight provider which has operated in Sri Lanka for over 25 years, is exploring the possibility of setting up a global logistics hub in Sri Lanka to serve the South Asian region.

This follows the recent signing by DHL of a BOI approved joint venture where a commitment was made to invest US$ 8 million.

The visit by Board Member of Deutsche Post DHL and CEO of DHL Global Forwarding and Freight to Sri Lanka Hermann Ude is proof of the interest this Global 100 company has in the country as a future global logistics centre for South Asia. Ude held discussions with Minister of Enterprise Development Mano Wijeratne and Chairman/Director General of the BOI Dhammika Perera.

Ude’s delegation included senior company officials including his chief of staff Christian Allecote, Director Strategic Planning, South Asia Pacific Ms Anne Schaefer, CEO for South Asia Pacific Amadou Diallo and CEO for South Asia Thomas Tieber.

The delegation is visiting Sri Lanka on a fact-finding mission as the island is strategically located to set up a multi-national gateway to serve India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other SAARC countries. DHL has already introduced innovations in Sri Lanka such as GPS tracking and Garments-on-hanger boxes for the fashion and apparel industry.

Ude said that Sri Lanka’s advantages included very low costs of maintaining a logistics centre in the country, hence the return of peace, would lead to investment inflows. He said DHL was evaluating a country that had a good and clearly structured environment. Sri Lanka also benefited from a good education system.

Sri Lanka’s strategic location on the East-West trading route, progressive trade policies, highly literate work force and developed ICT infrastructure offers considerable opportunities for the logistics sector.