In Poland, a country with an area of over 312.6 thousand sq. km, inhabited by over 38 million people, there has been much talk for many years about the need to build logistics centers, their location, functions, scope of operation, etc. However, it must be stated that the results of these discussions are still not reflected in economic reality.
Other countries are managing better. An example of this can be just one company from Austria, a country about 3.7 times smaller than Poland, which is inhabited by nearly 4.8 times fewer people. Rail Cargo Austria, a subsidiary of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), possesses an extensive network of logistics centers, the locations of which are shown in Fig. 1. There are 17 of them, and they are classified into four categories:
• logistics center
• logistics center with “CityBex” type services
• multifunctional logistics center
• multifunctional logistics center with “CityBex” type services.
• logistics center
• logistics center with “CityBex” type services
• multifunctional logistics center
• multifunctional logistics center with “CityBex” type services.
As can be seen, a service called “CityBex” appears in two categories. This is how transport and logistics services in the parcel and general cargo segment are defined. Multifunctional centers, on the other hand, are complexes of warehouses that carry out all modules of logistics chains. The company Rail Cargo Austria is constantly investing in and developing its infrastructure. The logistics center in Linz is still under construction – Fig. 2. A very modern facility is being created, in which a number of innovative solutions have been applied. The warehouse visible in Fig. 2 is 280 m long, 36 m wide, and its height is over 40 m. Approximately 2740 tons of steel were used for its construction. It consists of four stories.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 2002/6.