Skills Gap

July 23, 2009 (LBO) - Sri Lanka faces a shortage of skilled people in the logistics industry with traditional preferences for other occupations deterring youth from making the sector a career choice, an official said. "There's a serious shortage of skilled people in the logistics industry," said Rohan Masakorala, director of the Academy of International Trade & Transportation (AITT), the training institute of the island's freight forwarders association.

The academy set up almost three years ago with the aim of producing skilled professionals for the logistics trade /and improving the skills of those already employed.

"There are people in logistics but most are not trained either in trade matters or logistics related matters," Masakorala told LBO in an interview.

"So what they deliver to companies or service providers is probably not their full output."

Masakorala said that when the academy was started there was a perception that there were a few thousand people short in the industry.

There was a lack of awareness and encouragement to enter what is still a new profession in the island.

"It is unfortunate that parents in this country do not expose children to these new industries," said M