SL warehousing rated high by Unilever

A lot of investment is going into developing warehousing in South Asia with Sri Lanka's facilities among the best in the region, according to Head of Logistics, South Asia at Unilever Hindustan, Ashish Joshi.

Unilever itself is looking for ways to reduce transportation and logistics costs and has decided to centralize all Indian operations in Bengaluru, which in future will also handle centralised logistics for the entire South Asian region, he said. "The warehouse market is developing very fast," Joshi said in a presentation at the Colombo International Maritime Conference (CIMC). "Sri Lanka is already a significant player in the sector, ahead of other South Asian markets. Warehouses in Sri Lanka are among the best in South Asia.

A lot of investment is going into warehousing in South Asia which is good for the logistics industry."

Joshi spoke on Unilever's experience in Asian logistics and what South Asia can learn and adopt.

Unilever itself has adopted a 'hybrid model' with 25% of its products going direct to retailers and not through distribution centres where the company has found inventory can build up.

"We have moved from a storage mindset to a throughput mindset. It's helping," Joshi said.

There is a shift to more palletised movements of cargo and Sri Lanka is leading in South Asia but there is a need to standardise in the region, he said.