As shippers face varying capacity needs throughout the year, warehouses are often partially empty, while in other places there is a surplus of products. According to knowledge institute Dinalog, it is therefore important to share warehouse capacity.
Coen de Lange, SME programme manager at Dinalog, stated during Logistics & Distribution that sharing warehousing capacity is currently being found increasingly attractive due to a number of trends:
- A decline in long-term contracts. Contracts entered into are typically three to five years in length.
- Strong capacity change throughout the year.
- Increase in thinner flows due to rise in e-commerce
- Increasing need for shorter lead times.
- Shift from fixed costs to variable costs. Parties only want to pay when they actually need warehousing.
- New urban logistics models. Within-hour delivery is difficult when you have one central DC. By using someone else's warehouse, you can test different locations.
De Lange believes that when there is a surplus of products, shippers often still look for a spot in the vicinity. "Companies still like it when stocks are stored close by. But why not move your stocks closer to the end customer?"
A good example of this, according to De Lange, is the company Stockspots. This marketplace will go live in October and will make residual capacity transparent. A logistics provider looking for storage space for the months of January and February can easily search for it on Stockspots. The available site can indicate how much capacity is available and whether equipment and staff are also provided. Stockspots is currently said to be working with around sixty warehouses. This should reach 100 before going live.
According to De Lange, this may become the future of warehousing, although some parties remain reluctant to (physically) relinquish their stock. "I recently spoke to a retailer who insisted on having all his stock behind his office, because he enjoyed walking through it so much. But is that efficient? No." Technology should make shippers more in control of their stock. Even if they use 10 different locations, they should be able to see at a glance what is where. "Then you are also no longer dependent on the excel sheets that indicate that there is still some stock at your neighbour's."
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