This is the manuscript of Pro. Lalith Edirisinghe at the conference organized by UNESCAP in 2021 attended by the Ministry of Transport and

1. Sustainable Freight Transport in Sri Lanka
June 2021
Conference organised by ESCAP of the United Nations
Manuscript of Professor(Dr) Lalith Edirisinghe on invitation by Ministry of Transport Sri Lanka
Good mooring, S
̄ awạdhi kah and ayubowan from Sri Lanka
1. National strategy for sustainable freight transport
Transport and logistics should go hand in hand.
Logistics needs to provide strategic direction for Transport operation.
Sri Lanka Society of Transport and Logistics recently redefined

2. Logistics as, “the scientific process of planning, engineering and managing how resources and
services are strategically sourced and deployed to meet mobility requirements efficiently and
effectively”
Establishing a statutory body for Logistics and Transport is the key
Initial discussion was done by the Ministry of Transport, and agreed on this at policy level
The committee is now implementing its short, medium, and long-term actions.
2. Digital logistics platform for managing flow of containers
This is a global problem that shipping industry suffers from huge inefficiencies.
It costs the industry $20 billion per year.
Every 1 in 3 containers globally is moved empty.

3. In Sri Lanka 50-60% of port throughput are empty containers
It costs USD 135 Million a year; this is inadvertently paid by consumers- the general public.
In 2018, I introduced Multidimensional CIM index to measure overall competence level of the
Container Inventory Management.
Sri Lanka is indexed at 0.586 which is a moderate situation.
A solution namely, Virtual Container Yard was proposed and is in discussion last 5 years
According to scientific researches The VCY can reduce this burden by 14 %
This saving eventually could result a USD 50-85 reduction of freight rate for each container
exporting from SL
currently we are in the process of filling Patent for this tool.
3. Strategic focus on the role of railway transport and inland water transport
Railway in goods transportation is nothing new in Sri Lanka
Since 1864, coffee from the hill country to the port of Colombo on its way to the world market,
were railed and later for tea and Rubber and other goods.
Goods on rail from Anuradhapura, Kankesanturai and Talaimannar were shipped to South India
by ferry. Therefore, Multimodal transport too is not new to Sri Lanka.

4. Vegetables, fruits transported from the Northern, Southern, and Central agricultural lands, to
the urban areas. These experiences could be used to solve the serios inland transportation
problem of Vegetables and fruits in Sri Lanka. This has a direct impact of sustainable freight in
Sri Lanka as it is one of the most disturbing problem in the country now.
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There are historical evidences about strong inland water transport connecting with sea in Sri
Lanka.
The Dutch colonised the coastal areas of Sri Lanka for 156 years and constructed inland
waterways. Some main cities have a strong canal network but unutilised.
The Hamilton Canal connecting Puttalam to Colombo, passing through Negombo was
constructed by the British in 1802. these inbuilt facilities should be used strategically.
4. Capacity building challenges
Logistics and transport were introduced in the university system in 2005
BSc, BMgt,MBA,PhD , Professional programs, certificate, Diploma also available.
Major turning point is, incorporating Logistics in national education system in 2017 - in schools
The first Logistics textbook was written during 2018-2020 in the local language, Sinhala,

5. Introduces two new transport theories.
Integrated Dynamic Transport Decision Theory
Integrated Transport Demand Theory
New concept - Dynamic Integrated Supply Network – exploring the world beyond 10 PL
With proven results that we achieved for Logistics, we wish that government will include
Maritime education at Pre-secondary stage at schools. Proposals were submitted to Ministry of
Education, Sri Lanka to integrate vertically potential subjects.
The textbook on Shipping, and Ports written in local language-Sinhala, has also been completed
and will be launched on the World Maritime day of 2021 on September 30th.The theme for
2021, is "Seafarers: at the core of shipping’s future" which is highly relevant in edcation and
training.
5. Women’s participation in freight transportation sector has been increased
systematically.
A case studyFemale students’ tertiary education in logistics and transport
2007 -2 to 2019 -91
Although, Technology, Engineering, ICT /Computer are dominated by male students, majority
student base consist females.

6. Statistics of state universities in Sri Lanka
Technology, Engineering, ICT/Computer 61% male , 39% female
All other disciplines 24% male , 76 % female
Statistics of Non-state universities
Technology, Engineering, ICT/Computer 68% male , 32% female
All other disciplines 35% male , 65% female
Many students follow arts and commerce in secondary level education
Non state universities transformed from BSc to BMgt
SLQF have provisions for lateral entry for degrees. With many professional courses available
and with influence by the women association such as Wilat and Wista this could be made use of.
Societal awareness is the key to promote this sector, especially among women considering
our cultural norms.
The Ministry of Transport Sri Lanka will host the first National Logistics Day on 15th
August
displaying the logistics inclusiveness in Transport sector.
The First Logistics Sinhala textbook will be launched on this day.
A new stamp and a first day cover will be issued by the Postal Department of Sri Lanka to
enhance the public awareness.

7. These actions are linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) -
particularly SDG 4 on education and training.
These are the insights I can give within the time allocation.
I am available on lalith.edirisinghe@cinec.edu or follow the QR code to access my personal
website.
thank you.

8. state
Technology Engineering Computer/ICT
Male 1382 906 869 3157 61
Female 899 432 720 2051 39
5208
non state
Gender Art Science Management Agriculture Health science
Male 115 55 1038 73 129 1410 32
Female 531 171 1363 96 771 2932 68
4342
Gender ICT/Computer Technology Engineering
Male 2014 93 642 2749 65
Female 1167 51 247 1465 35
4214
Arts Management Commerce Law Medicine Agriulture AlliedHealth Science Indiginous medicine
1488 1737 210 48 567 472 223 132 4877 24
7668 3551 433 318 927 1237 605 371 15110 76
19987