Singapore: DHL Supply Chain is investing approx USD 31 million (RM 100 million) to construct a new mega warehouse in Shah Alam, Malaysia to provide state-of-the-art warehousing and supply chain solutions to support life science and healthcare portfolios along with other setcors.

Malaysia Integrated Logistics Centre (ILC) would be of size 1 million square feet and will increase DHL Supply Chain's warehouse footprint in the country by over 100 percent.

Mr Prakash Rochlani, managing director, DHL Supply Chain Malaysia said, "It is a momentous day for DHL Supply Chain as we announce the construction of this remarkable facility. The contract logistics market in Malaysia has shown impressive growth in recent years and this trend is forecast to continue. We've therefore identified the country as key to our growth strategy and made the important investment."

"We plan to create a true multi-user site to support customers across a broad spectrum of industries who will benefit from the synergies created from sharing resources. Warehousing services will be offered with a wide variety of complimentary value-added activities designed to optimize our customer's supply chain activities; including co-packing and technical services," added Mr Rochlani.

The two-story structure will have 111 loading docks of varying levels to cater for different vehicle types, and will have the ability to provide bonded and environment controlled storage. The facility will be certified to TAPA Class A standards and Quality Management Standard ISO9001:2008.

Once completed, the facility will become the third new facility opened in Malaysia by DHL Supply Chain in 2014 following the new purpose built facilities in Penang and Johor. The two warehouses added an additional 65 000 sq. ft. and 210 000 sq. ft. of warehousing space respectively, and support customer's logistics operations on the Northern and Southern peninsulas.

Across the next 24 months, DHL Supply Chain aims to grow its presence in Malaysia by opening six branch networks, expanding the current transport fleet by 50 trucks, constructing six additional multi-purpose facilities, as well as hiring close to 500 more supply chain experts.

"DHL Supply Chain Malaysia has also initiated a training management programme for Malaysian graduates, with the aim of hiring and training 100 graduate trainees over the next five years. These graduates will be trained across multi departments using DHL's Supply Chain best-practices and industry expertise and is in line with the nation's vision to create more knowledge-based workers," Mr Rochlani added.

The significant investment in Malaysia forms part of DHL's growth strategy for the Asia-Pacific region. The company plans to expand its warehousing footprint by 200 percent by 2020 in anticipation of the region's increasing logistics requirements.