Dutch Lanka Trailers eyeing Europe

Expands business with Rs 280 m factory:

Dutch Lanka Trailers plans to enter the European market soon. They are exporting trailers mainly to Middle East, South Asia, Far East Asia and East African countries. Dutch Lanka Trailers have placed Sri Lanka on the world map. The company is venturing into the European market in the near future, Dutch Lanka Trailer Manufacturers, Marketing Manager, Royce Delpachitra told the Daily News Business.

Dutch Lanka Trailers (DLT) opened a new factory expanding their capacity last Friday at Dankotuwa. The factory was launched with an investment of Rs 280 million, which created job opportunities for over 250 employees.

The majority of them were from the area itself.

The company has already got an order of 90 units worth two million Euros for Iran and another order of 70 units to Kuwait, which values up to US $ two million.

DLT has performed well amidst many internal and external challenges.

The company’s present capacity is around 30 percent. With the opening of this factory, DLT targets to increase the capacity to the optimum level. At present there is a capacity of 1,000 trailers in the Gonawala factory. With the expansion of this factory the company expects a capacity of 3,000 trailers per annum.

“The shipping cost is comparatively high, but our labour cost is cheaper. Therefore, we have an advantage of providing a quality product with a competitive price. Our main competitors are Europe and China”, Delpechitra said.

The company expects to make the support factory in Oman as the hub to provide trailers to Middle East countries. “In our Oman support factory we mainly do servicing. The company looks forward to assemble trailers in Oman to reduce shipping costs,” he said.

DLT is a Board of Investment (BOI) approved enterprise. Since its inception, the company has designed and manufactured a variety of trailers under Dutch technical supervision for both export and the domestic market.

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