Govt. declares August 16 as National Logistics Day

The Cabinet of Ministers this week granted approval to declare August 16 as the National Logistics Day for the purpose of educating the public on the importance of efficient and effective management of supply chains and its impact on cost of living. 

After considering a proposal tabled by Transport Minister Gamini Lokuge, the Cabinet of Ministers cleared the proposal to declare August 16 as the National Logistics Day starting from this year and to issue a commemorative stamp celebrating the first National Logistics Day.

“The efficient and effective management of all the supplies in a country is called logistics. If the relevant process is not properly managed, problems such as rising commodity prices and consequent difficulty in controlling the cost of living will arise. Therefore, it seems appropriate to declare a National Logistic Day for the purpose of educating the public about the related process,” the Government Information Department noted. 

In a recent article, the World Bank (WB) highlighted the fragmentations of the country’s domestic supply chains particularly with regard to agricultural products, exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic. It pointed out that these fragmentations have led to inefficiencies throughout the logistics sector leading to shortage of items and high prices of goods.

According to the article, around 97 percent of the country’s domestic freight is transported by roads—with half the trucks returning empty—causing unnecessary congestion on the road network and increasing transportation costs.