Business

COVID-19 diaries: Sri Lanka needs a resilient logistics system

Published

5 years ago

2021/05/3

By Winnie Wang , Senior Transport Specialist, World Bank

Logistics carry dreams. Back in 2007, when I applied to graduate schools in the United States, nothing could beat the excitement of handing over my applications to FedEx, clinging to the receipts with precious tracking numbers, and checking them a hundred times a day until I got confirmation that the packages had indeed arrived at my dream schools—all within the three business days they had promised.

A few months later, it was UPS that brought me the offer letter from MIT, transforming my destiny from a rural girl in China into a truly global citizen. I had never been on an airplane or anywhere out of my homeland before my flight to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Two years ago in 2019, life brought me to the World Bank office in Sri Lanka, near the Port of Colombo, one of the 20 most well-connected ports in the world.

Watching a busy port at work can be endlessly fascinating. It still gives me a thrill to see the giant ships glide by, laden with containers carrying cargo from halfway across the world, including, recently, all our household goods, especially boxes upon boxes of my children’s favorite toys.

It’s logistics that made it all happen.

COVID-19 Rocks the Logistics Boat

As effective as logistics may seem at facilitating the transport of college applications and children’s toys, the COVID-19 pandemic has unveiled significant vulnerabilities in that sector.

In the initial weeks of the lockdown last year, I remember struggling to put together a meal with only rice and milk powder left in my kitchen. While most other residents of Colombo must have endured similar experiences, Sri Lanka’s farmers were left with no option but to throw away their fruits and vegetables since there was no safe and efficient way to store and transport them. Meanwhile, consumers in the city had to wait for several days before they could buy fresh produce and pay a much higher price when they were finally able to do so. It was a lose-lose situation for everyone—consumers, producers, and the myriad others in the supply chain.

COVID-19 had underscored how fragmented Sri Lanka’s domestic supply chains were—particularly those related to agricultural products—leading to inefficiencies throughout the logistics sector.

Initially, online delivery systems also crashed as the country had very limited experience with digital platforms and paperless transactions. However, they picked up quickly, and small and medium enterprises were quick to utilize social media and smartphone apps to deliver goods to customers.

Even so, the pandemic brought the fundamental challenges that confront Sri Lanka’s transportation network into stark relief. The vital sinews, which keep the island nation’s freight and cargo moving, were unduly dependent on road transport. Around 97 percent of the country’s domestic freight is transported by road—with half the trucks returning empty—causing unnecessary congestion in the road network and increasing transportation costs.

The pandemic also highlighted the inadequacies in the warehousing infrastructure. According to the National Export Strategy (NES), only 138 customs-bonded warehouses exist throughout Sri Lanka, with around 80 percent of them located in the Western Province.

Besides, cold storage facilities are insufficient for storing fisheries products, a key commodity, and no major facilities exist for the safe storage of perishables at important locations. This shortfall is likely to hinder the country’s planned expansion of agricultural exports.

At the broader level, Sri Lanka’s exports, particularly the key export commodities such as tea and garments, have been significantly impacted by the pandemic. For example, according to Sri Lanka Export Development Board data, garment exports recorded an 82 percent decline, falling from $333 million in April 2019 to just $58 million in April 2020.

In a recent survey by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, 63 percent of Sri Lanka’s firms exporting goods and services reported significant disruption in their overall business operations due to COVID-19.

Hitting the Road Ahead with Operational Efficiency

The Government of Sri Lanka is taking action to improve the country’s logistics system. In addition to providing financial support and adopting many other initiatives, digitalization has been recognized as a key priority to improve the efficiency of the logistics sector and ensure contactless transactions for long-term sustainability. For instance, a few years ago, the blueprint for a National Single Window system was prepared jointly with the Government of Sri Lanka to facilitate efficient and paperless trade.

The private industry is also taking initiatives to improve the efficiency of the country’s logistics sector. In 2019, a private firm launched the Smart Truck Initiative via the SyTrans platform, making it easier for industry to book and schedule trucks through a mobile app. The initiative can yield even greater benefits if scaled up nationwide.

COVID-19 has taught us a valuable lesson—a national logistics system that is efficient and resilient is more important now than ever, as this sector provides the backbone for a functioning economy.

Solutions such as digitalization, improved transport connectivity, multimodal transport operations, and better coordination between various stakeholders will go a long way in strengthening domestic supply chains and maximizing the benefits that the Port of Colombo and others can bring to the country.

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Business

Steps leading to the achievement of SL’s national interest in IOR

Published

23 hours ago

2026/02/24

Sahan Weerasooriya

Prof. Nobukatsu Kanehera: ‘Rulesbased order violated.’

Sri Lanka needs to build awareness, effective policies and encourage regional multilateral frameworks to develop a multi-pronged approach to secure its national interest and safeguard regional stability in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), as the region together with its seabed have become an area of strategic competition, former Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary to former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Prof Nobukatsu Kanehara said.

“The Indian Ocean has been a maritime highway for millennia, with Sri Lanka being a midway point of the flow of trade, culture, technology and intellectual progress, Prof Kanehara said at the 4th Pathfinder Foundation Sri Lanka Indian Ocean Security Council Conference held recently at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel. The forum was presided over by Pathfinder Foundation Sri Lanka Chairman Ambassador (retd.) Dr. Bernard Goonetilleke.

The forum’s purpose was to obtain expert commentary regarding the need for Sri Lanka to ‘up its game’ in the IOR.

Abe said that from the 1870s onwards, the Indian Ocean had become the global communications highway, with the British Empire laying submarine cables from Aden to Mumbai, linking Europe to South Asia.

‘Since then, with the passage of time, Ceylon, and later Sri Lanka, has seen the bulk of the global digital communications umbilical laid through its maritime domain of influence, with over a dozen such cables laid over the island’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) thus far, he said.

Prof. Kanehera added: ” With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and increasing digitisation, such submarine cables have become critical strategic infrastructure for the island nation as well as the region.

‘This timely conference came as world powers rushed to secure critical minerals needed to maintain a technology edge over rivals, both militarily and economically, disrupting the longstanding rules-based order, especially at sea and in trade.

‘The lack of cognition regarding how to understand and navigate the return to a near Cold War era strategic competition in the Indian Ocean, and increasingly in the sub-surface domain and the seabed, among Sri Lanka’s policy making community, bureaucrats and public leaves the economically weakened island nation more vulnerable to geopolitical coercion, shocks and tug-o-war, which will likely increase in the coming decade.’

By Hiran H Senewiratne

Business

Automobile Association of Ceylon donates towards Disaster Relief Support Fund

Published

23 hours ago

2026/02/24

Sahan Weerasooriya

Automobile Association of Ceylon (AAC) donated Rs. 25 Million towards the Disaster Relief Support Fund to assist the Ditwah Cyclone victims.

A donation was handed over to Dr. S N Kumanayake, Secretary to the President of Democratic Socialistic Republic of Sri Lanka by Dhammika Attygalle, President – AAC at the Presidential Secretariat on the 19th February 2026 in the presence of Executive Committee members.

Dhammika Attygalle President AAC (third from Left) handing over the cheque to Dr S N Kumanayake, Secretary to the President of Democratic Socialistic Republic of Sri Lanka.

In the picture L-R Lasitha Gunaratne- EXCO Member – AAC, Devapriya Hettiarachchi – Secretary -AAC, P H Liyanage, P B Kulatunga & Indunil Udaya – Members of the EXCO – AAC

Business

‘Sri Lanka’s first AI-powered digital trainer for Banca partners’

Published

23 hours ago

2026/02/24

Sahan Weerasooriya

A few highlights from the NAVI Launch event.

HNB Assurance PLC recently introduced NAVI, The Digital Trainer, a new AI-powered training companion designed to support its banca staff with instant, reliable access to knowledge, whenever they need it. The solution was unveiled at Partnership Life, the company’s annual forum dedicated to celebrating the performance of its Partnership Channel.

Built to make learning simpler and more accessible, NAVI is a voice-enabled AI chatbot that helps banca staff quickly find product information, policy details, and process-related guidance by drawing from a centralized knowledge bank. Whether on the go or at the point of customer interaction, NAVI ensures that answers are never out of reach.

Sharing his thoughts, Sanesh Fernando, Chief Business Officer / GM – Partnership Channel at HNB Assurance, opined, “With NAVI, our intention is to make learning a part of everyday conversations. By combining chat and voice capabilities, we are making it easier for our officers to learn on demand and perform with greater confidence.” He further noted that it is this continuous focus on meaningful innovation that has consistently set HNB Assurance apart within the bancassurance space. “Solutions like NAVI reflect the way we think and operate as a Partnership Channel. This commitment to enabling our partners and bancassurance officers through practical, forward-thinking initiatives has been a key driver in our journey, one that has seen us being recognized as the Best Life Bancassurance Provider for five consecutive years, while also delivering strong and sustained growth year after year.”

Commenting on the launch, Suneth Jayamanne, Chief Information Officer / GM of HNB Assurance, said, “We see NAVI as a support system rather than a piece of technology. Our Bancassurance officers operate in fast-paced environments and having instant access to the right information can make all the difference. NAVI is about helping our people feel more prepared, more confident, and more connected to the knowledge they need to serve customers better.”

The launch of NAVI was marked by an engaging reveal featuring an AI-generated avatar that introduced the digital trainer and its capabilities, symbolizing a shift towards a more intuitive and people-friendly approach to learning.

As HNB Assurance continues to expand its Partnership Channel, innovations such as NAVI highlights the company’s focus on building strong, well-supported partnerships, blending technology with a deep understanding of how people learn, and work.

HNB Assurance PLC (HNBA) is one of the fastest growing Insurance Companies in Sri Lanka with a network of 79 branches. HNBA is a Life Insurance company with a rating of ‘A’ (lka) by Fitch Ratings Lanka for ‘National Insurer Financial Strength Rating’. Following the introduction of the segregation rules by the Insurance Regulator, HNB General Insurance Limited (HNBGI) was created and commenced its operations in January 2015; HNBGI continues to specialize in motor, non-motor and Takaful insurance solutions and is a fully owned subsidiary of HNB Assurance PLC. HNB General Insurance has been assigned a ‘National Insurer Financial Strength Rating’ of ‘A’ (lka) by Fitch Ratings Lanka Limited. HNBA is rated within the Top 100 brands and Top 100 companies in Sri Lanka by LMD and HNB Assurance has won international awards for Brand Excellence, Digital Marketing and HR Excellence including the Great Place To Work® Certification, and won many awards for its Annual Reports at award ceremonies organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.