DHL has announced a joint venture agreement with Capitol AEI (Pvt), an exclusive agent for DHLGlobal Forwarding in Sri Lanka, to help the island nation become a logistics hub in South Asia.
Under the new partnership, the company will invest US$8 million into the new unit DHL GlobalForwarding Lanka offering an enhanced range of services to customers while integrating globalforwarding expertise and supply chain capabilities. In addition, DHL plans to invest in employeetraining and upgrading of information systems.
The new business operates a combined warehouse area of over 380,000 square feet (115,824sqm), a fleet of about 40 vehicles and employs almost 250 people.
“As part of this investment, by end-2009, DHL will launch the ‘DHL Fashion and Apparel Centrefor Excellence’ in Colombo. The centre will comprise a core team of industry experts and beresponsible for developing tailored solutions and provide consultancy services to customers,” thecompany said.
“We are very optimistic about Sri Lanka’s growth potential,” said Amadou Diallo, DHL GlobalForwarding chief executive for South Asia Pacific. “Being strategically located along the major airand sea routes between Europe and the Far East, Sri Lanka is uniquely positioned to capitalise onthe increasing trade flows between South Asia and Europe.”
The fashion and apparel industry is one of Sri Lanka’s largest sources of national incomecontributing nearly 8%to the country’s gross domestic product and accounts for 45% of the exportrevenue and 67% of the total industrial exports.
According to DHL, the fashion and apparel logistics industry in South Asia is estimated to bearound $3.9 billion.
“India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka alone are estimated to account for well over $2.4billion in this fast-growing industry,” DHL said, adding that its services covered the entirelogistics value chain of the fashion industry.
