Paris / Île-de-France is home to Europe’s top micro-locations for efficient logistics distribution, according to the inaugural release of the Paths of Distribution score, published today by LaSalle Investment Management.
The new research provides the ability to compare logistics locations at a micro, market, country and pan-European level, with extensive flexibility for understanding, benchmarking and ranking locations at both micro and macro scale.
The Netherlands, thanks to its immediate access to Europe’s major consumption centres and having one of the crossroads of trade within and into Europe, was identified as the strongest-performing country. The port city of Rotterdam, the key gateway of global trade, ranked second and is joined in the top 20 regional markets by local rivals Amsterdam and the North Brabant region of Breda and Tilburg. Germany, the second-best performing country, provided another five of Europe’s top 20 markets, all in the west of the country, establishing this corner of north-western Europe as a hotspot for manufacturing and transportation.
The UK, although separated from continental European logistics markets, placed third in the country standings, with Greater London its highest-ranked logistics market, although the West and East Midlands, the North-West of England (surrounding Manchester) and Kent all placed in the top 20 thanks to their strong infrastructure.
Belgium was fourth best performing, with the Antwerp and Brussels markets ranking seventh and seventeenth respectively. The wider Milan region also scored highly in the rankings, despite comparatively low investment volumes historically, while the Veneto-Verona corridor was another Italian market which scored well, with domestic consumption being the primary driver. Likewise, in Poland, the biggest winners were the Katowice-Krakow corridor and Lodz - ranking above the capital Warsaw - both growing notably in recent years and benefitting from investment in infrastructure and labour availability. LaSalle’s analysis shows there is a positive correlation between Paths of Distribution and logistics take-up, making a connection between current demand and these locations’ potential.
Petra Blazkova, head of Research & Strategy, Core & Core-Plus Capital, Europe at LaSalle, said: 'With continued uncertainty around energy prices and supply chains being disrupted, cost uncertainty is high across the continent for logistics providers. Location is a key variable which distributors can still control, and so it is more important than ever: optimising your choice of location can help minimise exposure to these other risks and protect your supply chain. Today’s rankings demonstrate which areas are best for distributors to try to insulate themselves from those pressures. As investors in the sector, this new insight into the most resilient logistics markets in Europe informs our portfolio composition and asset management.'
The full top 20 logistics markets were as follows:
1. Paris / Île-de-France - France
2. Rotterdam - Netherlands
3. Frankfurt-Mainz - Germany
4. Milan - Italy
5. Greater London - UK
6. Rhine-Ruhr - Germany
7. Antwerp - Belgium
8. West Midlands - UK
9. Madrid - Spain
10. Dortmund - Germany
11. Amsterdam - Netherlands
12. East Midlands - UK
13. Stuttgart - Germany
14. North West (Manchester) - UK
15. North Brabant (Breda-Tilburg) - Netherlands
16. Karlsruhe-Mannheim corridor - Germany
17. Brussels - Belgium
18. Veneto-Verona corridor - Italy
19. Kent - UK
20. Barcelona - Spain
