Conquering boundaries with ASL Logistics

In simple terms, ‘Logistics’ is defined as the process of, planning and executing the efficient transportation and storage of cargo (goods) from the point of origin to the point of consumption. The general public never bothered about how significant the role played by the logistics service providers was up until the spreading of the COVID pandemic. Once the supply chain was disturbed due to logistics constraints, the world had almost come to a standstill and professional logisticians had added responsibilities to ensure minimum adverse impact to the global supply chain.

ASL Logistics C M B Ltd. has being engaged in the international logistics and freight forwarding activities, customs brokerage, warehousing, and transportation industry since March 2019. In a short period of time, the company has expand its service capabilities regionally to Myanmar, Thailand, Hong Kong, mainland China (all ports), Vietnam, Malaysia and Maldives, and further exploiting opportunities in the difficult Asian markets. 

ASL Regional Management consists of over +200 years of collective experience in Shipping, Logistics and Supply Chain. ASL team is committed to understanding the customer’s evolving logistics requirements, and managed to successfully design the service portfolio to match their expectations. Irrespective of the management hierarchy, each and every team member of ASL believes that human capital is the biggest asset and secret behind the success of becoming an emerging brand in a highly competitive market. By year 2022, ASL touched the mark of 100 individuals from different nationalities and the team keeps growing. Team ASL comprised with skilled professionals who identify and design solutions to match any customer’s precise demands, whether it be the carrying of goods by land, sea, or air. These solutions are strengthened by the expertise of well-reputed worldwide logistics networks.

Sri Lanka is at the centre of internationally recognised silk route connecting East and West, and this location enables the country to provide quick and efficient global and regional connectivity to move cargo to and from Asia to the rest of the world and has the potential of becoming “The Logistical Hub” of South Asia. To compliment this, the port of Colombo serves world’s top 10 shipping lines and 23 other shipping lines/feeder lines and NVOCCs, further handles a throughput of around 7.25 million TEUs in 2021, which was 5.8% growth compared to the previous year. 

ASL strongly believes that as a nation, we are yet to fully explore the business potential and harness the maximum benefits as a regional logistics hub. It is inevitable that Sri Lanka should exploit on the location-specific advantages and position itself as a hub. However, it is evident that being in the middle of the silk route nor having super structures to facilitate the trade itself is not sufficient to capture the full potential. In the recent past we have witnessed digitalisation initiatives by Neo-Luddism government organisations which enabled faster connectivity and visibility between the collaborators. 

Fighting regional giants would become a much easier task when newly installed terminals and other infrastructure facilities commence operations which will add more strength to current facilities and business portfolio. These initiatives aided creating a better atmosphere in order to enhance the eminence of logistics solutions as a nation. Our mindset should be readjusted to think globally and how we should come up in Logistics Performance Indicators and attract more global/regional customers and business to Sri Lanka.