UKWA – the United Kingdom Warehousing Association - has announced the formation of  the All Ireland Warehousing Association (AIWA).
AIWA will embrace all companies in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland that provide warehousing and other logistics support services in the supply chain. Like UKWA, it is also open to retailers and manufacturers who operate their own warehousing and distribution functions.

The  Association will be directly affiliated to UKWA and will be run from an office  in Claremorris, County Mayo.

Roger Williams,  UKWA’s CEO,  announced the launch of the AIWA at  a recent UKWA networking luncheon held at the Slieve Donard Hotel, Newcastle, County Down.

He commented: “The new organisation will be able to  properly serve the needs of the whole of the Irish warehousing and logistics sector. We believe that an organisation affiliated to UKWA and working closely with us will provide a focus for this important sector.”

A dedicated website – www.warehousingireland.ie - is in the process of being established and an executive steering group will be formed to take the new association forward.

The launch of the new association means that for the first time Ireland’s third party storage and warehousing community has an Ireland-based trade body dedicated to its needs.

Roger Williams added: "Membership of AIWA will give companies the peace of mind to concentrate on their core business, confident in the knowledge that the  Association is representing their interests at all levels and keeping them updated and informed on news and developments covering a wide range of issues affecting the 3PL sector."

The new Association’s Membership categories have been structured to allow companies whose distribution sites are less than 50,000 square feet in size to those with facilities of over 1,000,000 square feet to join AIWA cost effectively.