Sri Lanka’s apparel industry may be producing garments faster than ever, but its competitive advantage is increasingly being threatened by delays that occur after production ends. The warning from Brandix CEO Omar during the inauguration of International Maritime Conference 2026 exposes a critical weakness in the country’s export model: efficiency inside factories can be neutralised by inefficiency across the wider supply chain.
Omar’s central argument was that competitiveness can no longer be measured simply by manufacturing cost or delivery capability. Customers now expect a combination of cost, speed and flexibility, including the ability to fulfil smaller orders. In fashion, where trends change rapidly, a garment arriving late can lose much of its commercial value.
This places logistics at the centre of the manufacturing process. The traditional approach of completing production and then handing goods to freight forwarders is becoming increasingly inadequate. A supply chain that treats transportation, documentation, customs and port operations as separate functions risks undermining the gains achieved on the factory floor.
Omar illustrated the problem starkly: a manufacturer could save five days through improved production efficiency, only to see the goods remain at a port or with freight forwarders for another 10 days. The result is not merely an operational inconvenience. It is a direct erosion of competitiveness, working capital and customer confidence.
The proposed solution is particularly significant. Omar called for Customs clearance to be completed before goods leave manufacturing plants, allowing shipments to move without being held up by documentation or processing requirements after production. Such a system could reduce unnecessary waiting time and create a more predictable export process.
His proposal is not about making ships travel faster. It is about eliminating avoidable delays within a system that Sri Lanka can influence. If implemented within one to two years, he argued, these changes could provide a meaningful competitive advantage over rival apparel-exporting countries.
The urgency is heightened by the limited adoption of emerging technologies. Omar estimated that artificial intelligence usage in the industry remained below 0.5%, despite its potential to accelerate production and supply-chain management. This suggests that Sri Lanka is not only confronting physical bottlenecks but also a digitalisation gap.
The Government’s role will therefore extend beyond maintaining trade relationships. While tariff decisions by the United States, Europe and other major markets remain outside Sri Lanka’s control, infrastructure, customs efficiency, port performance and logistics costs are domestic policy responsibilities.
Sri Lanka has benefited from remaining broadly competitive with regional peers. But that advantage cannot be treated as permanent. Competing countries with full duty-free access may enjoy tariff benefits, while Sri Lanka must compensate through reliability, speed and flexibility.
The country’s next competitive breakthrough may not come from producing garments more cheaply. It may come from ensuring that completed garments do not spend days waiting to move.
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