The logistics services market in Poland has been developing continuously since the political transformation, and its growth rate generally outpaces the GDP growth rate. Following this, the demand for infrastructure and resources necessary for providing logistics services is increasing. Among these, warehouse space is an important resource.
Warehouse facilities inherited from the previous economic system do not meet modern storage technologies and show a significant degree of wear and tear, which discourages owners from modernizing them. Therefore, the demand for modern warehouse space, despite periodic fluctuations, remains high. The warehouse space market grows by an average of about 12% annually. When choosing locations for warehouse facilities, investors prefer the following voivodeships: Mazowieckie, Łódzkie, Wielkopolskie, Śląskie, and Dolnośląskie (Table 1). Investor choices are strongly linked to the availability and quality of transport infrastructure. Road transport is preferred in providing logistics services, which is why new investments are located mainly along international transport corridors running through Poland, along existing or planned motorways and their junctions with other types of roads (Figure 1). Few location decisions take into account the availability of other modes of transport. Railway sidings and warehouse ramps, enabling the receipt of deliveries to warehouses by rail, are visible mostly in parks and warehouse facilities where stocks for production purposes are stored. The underdevelopment of transport infrastructure means that to ensure the required level of service, the supplier must have stock in more locations than would result from the natural efficiency of logistics systems. This factor further fuels the demand for new warehouse space. The availability of real estate for new warehouse facilities is limited by a number of factors (Table 2). Acquiring real estate for the construction of warehouse facilities is never a simple act of buying and selling and involves not two, but three parties (buyer, seller, local government). In assessing the conditions of significant factors influencing the possibility of acquiring real estate and implementing investments, there are large differences (Tables 3 and 4).
The article comes from the journal “Logistyka” 1/2008.