Transport and logistics planners should transcend unsustainable values and build essential ethical and moral values in building the infrastructure and processes needed for Sri Lanka’s future growth and development, Prof. Mohan Munasinghe told the closing ceremony of the second International Conference on Research for Transport and Logistics Industry (R4TLI) at the Galle Face Hotel recently. The event was organized by the Sri Lanka Society of Transport and Logistics (SLSTL) and partnered by CML Walkers.
Prof. Munasinghe who shared the 2007 Nobel Prize for Peace, said that wrong social values drive greed which in turn creates unsustainable economic development and growth that leads nations to poverty, inequality, violence, corruption and debt.
He further elaborated the need for professional organizations such as SLSTL to occupy the space between civil society, government and the business community in order to promote sustainable development. The R4TLI event which drew over 200 participants was represented by industry, academia, post-graduate and undergraduate students.
Prof. Tetsuro Hyodo from Japan who delivered an invited lecture, spoke on the logistics crisis Japan faces in a diminishing labour market where innovative logistics solutions have to be found. Prof Alex de Barros spoke on the changing features of airport designs with new technology such as autonomous aircrafts.
There were 40 research papers reviewed by an international scientific panel that was presented at the conference representing a wide cross-section of topics ranging from bus terminal design to sea port planning and from warehouse management to the supply chain of gemstones.
The evening was highlighted by three presentations of industry innovations that included a presentation by Siam City Cement Ltd of its Cement Logistics Operation from Trincomalee port that feeds their plants at Galle and Puttlam from a single port using different modes of transport by ship, road and rail, as well as a presentation from Hire1 a new e-commerce platform for trucking and a presentation by the University of Moratuwa on the Bus Priority Lanes in Colombo scheduled for implementation next month.
Prof. Amal Kumarage, the Chair of R4TLI and President of SLSTL emphasised the need for industry to take ownership and initiative for research as a business strategy. He also reiterated the need for breaking out of silo based thinking and to adopt multi-disciplinary approaches in solving industry problems.
This year’s R4TLI 2017 awards were won by R.M.S.S. Sanjeewani (Assessing Spatial Accessibility to Public Health Care Services in Kurunegala District Using GIS), A.S. Kumarage, N.A.C.M. Keerthisinghe, N.A. Samasekera and H.C.N. Silva (Analysis of the Settlement of Revenue Pooling in the Sahasara Bus Reforms Project), C.A.Kavirathne, K. Tomoya and S.Hanaoka (Competitive Dynamics among Cross Regional Hub Ports: Generalised Cost Approach), I.D.K. Dayananda and R. P. Jayaratne (Deterministic Parameters for the Success of Vendor-Managed Inventory in Sri Lanka), J.I.Sudusinghe, R.P. Jayaratne and A.S.Kumarage (Social Sustainability Reporting in the Sri Lankan Apparel Supply Chain), W. Jayawardena and A.S.Kumarage (Developing a Multimodal Transport Hub and Bus Service Improvements for Battaramulla) and M.K.H. Perera and R. P. Jayaratne (Derivation of a Decision Model on Outsourcing in Sri Lanka Using Analytic Hierarchy Process).
‘Wrong social values drive greed which in turn creates unsustainable economic development and growth that leads nations to poverty, inequality, violence, corruption and debt’