DHL Express opens new Air-side Gateway Facility at BIA

Caption for Photograph - Senior Vice-President & Area Director - South Asia, Malcolm Monteiro speaks at the media briefing. Also in the picture are (L to R) Romesh David (President Transportation Group, John Keells PLC), Manish Patel (Country Manager – DHL Express Sri Lanka), Ramesh Natarajan (Vice-President DHL Express – Rest of South Asia), C.S.W. Jayatilake (Director General Sri Lanka Customs) and Prasanna Wickremasuriya (Chairman Airport and Aviation)

Colombo, 10 March 2010: DHL Express today announced the opening of its new Air-side Gateway Facility inside the Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake -Terminal 3. The new DHL Gateway in Sri Lanka is one of the best in South Asia having the latest technology and material handling equipments.
 

With an investment of US$ 374,000 (Rs. 43 Million), this 15,000 sq.ft facility promises to provide faster clearance and seamless handling of in-bound and out-bound international consignments which will further strengthen DHL’s expertise in Sri Lanka. This new DHL facility is scaled to accommodate future growth over the next 5 years.

 
Backed by a team of professionals in customs clearance, this state-of the art gateway will provide fast, convenient and hassle free clearance facilities. As a result of faster recovery and processing time, customers will benefit from throughput time of 60 minutes on import consignments and an additional 30 minutes on export consignments.

 
At the inauguration Manish Patel, DHL Sri Lanka Country Manager said, “The physical location of the Gateway Facility within the precincts of the Bandaranaike International Airportenables us to provide our customers with enhanced solutions. This investment is a perfect example of public private partnership, which will further strengthen the capabilities of international trade out of Sri Lanka.�
 

With this investment, the import and export processes have been made even more efficient with greater focus on speedier operations. The facility is fully equipped with CCTV, CIA Imaging, material handling equipment, Radio Frequency Scanners, Customized Racking System, Electronic Data Interface, 24 hour in-house customs and Security Screening.

 
“We believe in forming strong partnerships with local authorities such as customs and aviation in order to provide faster solutions to our customers. The new Gateway Service Centre reiterates DHL’s global commitment to invest in truly world class facilities in all the markets it operates in� said Senior Vice-President & Area Director - South Asia, Malcolm Monteiro who was also present at the inauguration.

 
The infrastructure is modeled on successful global hubs that have self controlled operations and achieved outstanding results in facilitating trade. The new Gateway in Sri Lankahas set yet another pioneering benchmark that balances efficiency, reliability and excellent service quality.