The Airport Factor

Can proximity to an airport add value to a warehouse and logistics centre?

Since no method of transport is faster than the plane, does this mean that there is no better location for warehouse space than the vicinity of an airport, and are airports planning to expand their cargo capacity?

Two large modern warehousing centres near Okecie airport in Warsaw are ProLogis's 35,500-sqm ProLogis Park Warsaw and CEIDCO's 30,000 sqm Warsaw Distribution Centre (which also has 7,000 sqm of office space). Was direct proximity to the airport a deciding factor in their their location?

Warsaw, not airport, the draw, 
I think that for tenants the fact that our centre is located in Warsaw is more important than its location near the airport. The majority of goods get here by lorry and leave the same way", says Maciej Madejak of ProLogis. In his opinion, the customer profile of ProLogis Park Warsaw is not much different from other ProLogis warehouse schemes (in Blonie, Teresin and Poznan).
According to Joanna Chmielecka of CEIDCO, both Warsaw Distribution Centre in Okecie and Ozarow Business Centre in Ozarów have a similar customer profile. ,Both our warehouse parks are dominated by light production, electronics and pharmaceutical companies. There are no major differences in the size of leased space".

Air cargo still small
So why doesn't proximity to the airport attract warehouses as one might expect? The first reason is because the volume of goods transported by air in Poland is still small. In 2000 only 40,000 tonnes of cargo were recorded at Poland's biggest cargo Airport, Okecie, compared to 1.86 million tonnes of freight moved by rail. Katowice, the 2nd biggest, recorded less than 8,000 tonnes, and only c. 2,500 tonnes passed through Kraków and Wroclaw's airports. These airports' cargo terminals and their warehouses are currently sufficient to handle this volume of cargo. The first cargo terminal at Wroclaw's airport was built in 1999 and consists of 2,000 sqm of warehouse space. Already, however, it is no longer sufficient and construction by local contractor Wrobis is now underway on a second 900 sqm building, with work due to be completed this June. Early plans to build the Wroclawskie Zintegrowane Centrum Logistyczne (the Wroclaw Integrated Logistic Centre), within a few kilometres of the airport, are underway.

Expansion plans on hold
Tomasz Kloskowski, vice-president of Gdansk's Tri-City Airport, said that plans to extend their cargo terminal, currently offering 500 sqm of warehouse space and 500 sqm of office space, have been put on hold by the slowdown in air transport after 11th September. ,Plans to construct a new cargo terminal of several thousand square metres are ready. Realisation of the scheme will take 2 years and cost around PLN 15 million. The project will go ahead when the global aviation slowdown is over". Today, mainly pharmaceutics, hi-tech materials and elements used by the shipbuilding industry pass through the terminal. ,Although last year there was a considerable increase in cargo transport prices, we cannot claim to be any competition to the Tri-City ports. We actually complement each other", says Kloskowski.
Authorities at Katowice airport in Pyrzowice, where courier companies such as DHL, TNT and UPS occupy the existing 5,800 sqm terminal, there are plans to enlarge. ,An airport zoning plan, which foresees construction of more warehouse space, was drawn up in January this year, but right now these are just plans," admits Cezary Orzech of Górnoslaskie Towarzystwo Lotnicze in Katowice (Upper-Silesian Aviation Association), owner of the airport.
So while the airport might not be an important factor in locating a private warehouse, this isn't stopping the airports themselves from expanding their cargo capacity.