Increasing pressure on the logistics market is creating new logistics hotspots. For instance, companies increasingly prefer Hoofddorp to Schiphol Airport and Nieuwegein to Utrecht. This is what Colliers International observes in its logistics barometer.
The barometer shows that over 94,000 square metres of logistics property were taken up in Nieuwegein in 2016. That is an increase of a whopping 395 per cent compared to a year earlier. In Utrecht, take-up of logistics property rose by 'only' 57 per cent (27,500 square metres). The same trend applies to a location like Born compared to Venlo. Only unlike Utrecht, Venlo still has opportunities to expand.
According to Colliers International, the shift is due to economies of scale. Parties are more often choosing to outsource their logistics to logistics service providers. In turn, they are looking for larger locations for distribution centres, which are often not available in traditional hotspots. "The increase in scale of logistics service providers is an important factor for the dynamics in the logistics real estate market," says Jim Orsel of the Logistics & Industrial team. "The demand for larger distribution centres, given the decreasing available land in traditional locations, will lead to new logistics hotspots."
A clear example is DHL Supply Chain's new distribution centre: a 23,000-square-metre building on logistics business park in Nieuwegein. The table below shows that companies do not shun existing logistics hotspots when choosing locations. XPO Logistics, for instance, chose a 60,000-square-metre distribution centre in Venlo.
Colliers International further states that initial yields on logistics hotspots continued to fall in 2016. "This trend is expected to continue. In addition, the differences between locations are getting smaller. Yields range from 5.3 per cent in Tilburg to 5.9 per cent in Amsterdam. Meanwhile, yields at other locations outside the original hotspots are also falling."
View the logistics barometer here.
Editorial LogistiekProfs
Image: Primark distribution centre in Roosendaal Peter Braakmann / Shutterstock.com
