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| Sunday, 13 April 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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John Keells opens warehouse by Mihiri Wikramanayake John Keells Limited (JKL) opened its first fully automated tea and rubber warehouse at the Muthurajawela Industrial Zone recently. This fully-owned subsidiary of John Keells Holdings (JKH) will now provide 130,000 square feet of tea storage space and 10,000 sq feet of rubber storage space in eight acres. In the 1970s, the JKL warehouse was situated in Glennie Street, but past security restrictions prevented lorries and vehicles gaining access within city limits and the warehouse had to be shifted to out-of-town venues. As a result, due to the various acquisitions of JKH, the warehouse was situated in about five different locations, resulting in turnaround delays and inconvenience to clients. Lalith Ramanayake, Managing Director JKL said: "However, because we had ongoing warehousing with us through various acquisitions, we had no immediate need for storage space and were not pressurised to look at options more closely. Feasibility studies done at that time were also not conducive as rates were very low at the time". Then JKH began to divest this space or turned them into office blocks which resulted in the loss of warehouse space for the tea department. Within a few years, storage space had to be leased out for their tea and rubber produce which resulted in the re-evaluation of the need. The main reason for this new warehouse is to improve the services to clients - the buyers and sellers. The warehouse is fully automated from the moment the lorry is unloaded on to the platform. Modern trucks and equipment will be used to rack and store the produce in ideal conditions. Unloading and/or loading will be done within 20 minutes, cutting turnaround time by more than 50 per cent. Manpower and labour costs will be reduced by 60 per cent. Sunil Dharmaratna, Director JKL, explained that this Rs. 350 million project was financed through asset-backed notes which were issued to the main contractor and are payable over a period of 10 years. According to estimates, JKL will save upto Rs. 40 million per annum on electricity, security and transportation. JKL is the country's largest tea broker with a market share of almost 25 per cent. |
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