Multimodal hubs are growing in importance as warehousing locations. That was one of the key conclusions of a seminar entitled 'Logistics warehouses in Europe: the next challenges' held at the Mipim property fair in Cannes yesterday. At present, most goods are transported by truck, but the costs of road transport are rising due to spiralling wage costs and taxes. Alternative modes of transport such as rail and waterways are becoming increasingly attractive, the panel participants said, citing also more stringent environmental regulations.
Multimodal hubs are growing in importance as warehousing locations. That was one of the key conclusions of a seminar entitled 'Logistics warehouses in Europe: the next challenges' held at the Mipim property fair in Cannes yesterday. At present, most goods are transported by truck, but the costs of road transport are rising due to spiralling wage costs and taxes. Alternative modes of transport such as rail and waterways are becoming increasingly attractive, the panel participants said, citing also more stringent environmental regulations.
The growing importance of rail and waterways also emerges from figures from the European Union's Trans-European Network for Transport. Twenty of the thirty logistics hubs selected by the EU as sites requiring further attention have railway connections, while five of them are also linked to waterways.
Customer demand for warehousing at logistics hubs has not yet got off the ground, said Simon Nelson of Prologis. But he added that he expected demand to grow in the near future. Francois Comaita of French-based Entrepote Online said that some companies are already opting for multimodal locations as a means of boosting their environmentally friendly image.