Month: February 2020

Logistics real estate specialist Gazeley has acquired a 21-acre site at Magna Park, Milton Keynes (UK) with the intention to develop a new 312,700 sq ft unit called Magnitude 312.

The new high-specification distribution and logistics space includes over 195 HGV parking spaces, 343 double dock levelers and 4 level access doors. The building has a 19 M clear height allowing for four potential mezzanine levels.

The site is well-located within Gazeley’s Magna Park, Milton Keynes distribution and logistics park, which is already home to John Lewis, Waitrose, River Island, A.G. Barr and UK Mail. Located between J13 and J14 of the M1, the site is within a 4½ hour HGV drive of 45.8 million people in the UK, meaning it is perfectly situated for companies looking to deliver goods to the whole of the UK.

Joe Garwood, Development Director, Gazeley, said: “Across the UK, we continue to see high demand for logistics space. However, customers are increasingly requiring higher specification buildings and leading sustainability credentials. With Magnitude 312, we have focused on delivering flexible space that allows our customers to tailor to requirements while ensuring that it has all the sustainability features that modern supply chains require.”

Logistics real estate specialist Gazeley has acquired a 21-acre site at Magna Park, Milton Keynes (UK) with the intention to develop a new 312,700 sq ft unit called Magnitude 312.

The new high-specification distribution and logistics space includes over 195 HGV parking spaces, 343 double dock levelers and 4 level access doors. The building has a 19 M clear height allowing for four potential mezzanine levels.

The site is well-located within Gazeley’s Magna Park, Milton Keynes distribution and logistics park, which is already home to John Lewis, Waitrose, River Island, A.G. Barr and UK Mail. Located between J13 and J14 of the M1, the site is within a 4½ hour HGV drive of 45.8 million people in the UK, meaning it is perfectly situated for companies looking to deliver goods to the whole of the UK.

Joe Garwood, Development Director, Gazeley, said: “Across the UK, we continue to see high demand for logistics space. However, customers are increasingly requiring higher specification buildings and leading sustainability credentials. With Magnitude 312, we have focused on delivering flexible space that allows our customers to tailor to requirements while ensuring that it has all the sustainability features that modern supply chains require.”

Supply chain executives are braced for a global slowdown and see a threat to emerging markets, according to Agility’s annual survey. Bosses anticipate a recession in 2020 amid concerns about downward pressure on global trade volumes, uncertain growth prospects, and ongoing friction between the U.S. and China.

Sixty-four percent of industry professionals surveyed for the 2020 Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index say a recession is likely in the next 12 months. Only 12% of the 780 respondents say a recession is unlikely.

At the same time, most logistics executives say their companies will ride out any turbulence in trade relations between the world’s two largest economies. Seventy-percent of those with operations and investments in China say they will stay put and that their plans are unchanged despite the U.S.-China trade battle.

If they were to move production or sourcing from China, Vietnam and India were respondents’ top choices of places to relocate. They identified rising trade barriers as the factor most likely to hurt emerging markets growth.
The survey is part of the 2020 Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index, the company’s 11th annual snapshot of industry sentiment and ranking of the world’s 50 leading emerging markets. The Index is a broad gauge of countries’ competitiveness based on their international and domestic logistics strengths and business fundamentals.

“The fears of a recession are not to be taken lightly, especially because of uncertainty about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak,” says Essa Al-Saleh, CEO of Agility Global Logistics. “A positive sign, however, is that a large number of emerging markets economies were able to weather an array of issues — political and social unrest, structural problems, even international sanctions for some — without losing much ground in the past year.”
The Index ranks 50 countries by factors that make them attractive to logistics providers, freight forwarders, shipping lines, air cargo carriers and distributors. In 2020, the top 10 emerging markets are: China, India, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Mexico, Thailand and Turkey.

China, India and Indonesia rank highest for domestic logistics; China, India and Mexico are top for international logistics; and UAE, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia have the best business fundamentals.

2020 Index and Survey Highlights
• China and India, atop the 2020 rankings based on their size and strength as international and domestic logistics markets, lag behind smaller rivals in business fundamentals, a category that ranks countries based on regulatory environment, credit and debt dynamics, contract enforcement, anti-corruption safeguards, price stability and market access. In that area, China ranks No. 8 and India is No. 18.

• The strongest clusters of emerging markets are in the Arabian Gulf and Southeast Asia, thanks to business-friendly conditions and core strengths – the Gulf’s energy wealth and Southeast Asian manufacturing power – that draw logistics activity. In the Gulf, UAE (No. 3), Saudi Arabia (6), Qatar (7), Oman (14), Bahrain (15) and Kuwait (19) rank among the most business-friendly emerging markets. Among ASEAN countries, Indonesia (4), Malaysia (5), Thailand (9), and Vietnam (11) are strong.

• Survey respondents see India as the market with greatest potential over China, their second choice. In rankings of best business conditions, several countries are making big moves: Egypt climbs 10 spots to #17; Ukraine jumps 10 spots to #27; Ghana drops 13 spots to #32; and Iran tumbles 12 spots to #38.

• Forty-two percent of those surveyed say a prolonged trade standoff between the U.S. and China could benefit Southeast Asian countries, which offer manufacturing and sourcing alternatives to China. This is less, however, than 56% who said last year that Southeast Asia would benefit.

• Egypt, despite a brief period of social unrest in 2019, showed significant gains across all indices. On the overall index, Egypt rose six spots to No. 20, while leaping 10 spots on the business fundamentals chart (17), six spots on the domestic opportunities index (13) and jumping five spots on the international opportunities index (23).

• The top three factors that keep small businesses out of global trade are trade bureaucracy (17%), government/border instability (14%) and inability to compete with larger rivals (14%), supply chain professionals say in the survey.

• Despite the belief a recession is likely, emerging markets still grew an estimated 3.7% in 2019 and are projected by the IMF to grow 4.4% in 2020. As for what is driving emerging markets growth, 23% say modernization of customs systems and processes, 18% cite increased internet penetration, 16% say modernization of logistics provider systems (WMS, TMS, etc.) and 15% mention increased adoption and modernization of online payment systems.

• The top five “megacity” emerging markets logistics hubs are Shanghai, New Delhi, Sao Paulo, Jakarta and Mexico City. Megacities – urban centers with populations of 10 million or more – require vast logistics support to meet domestic needs and engage in trade.

• E-commerce fulfillment is the top choice among logistics services expected to maintain or improve growth, well ahead of other services such as domestic last-mile delivery and international express parcel delivery.

• The countries with the least potential as logistics markets in 2020 are Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Iraq and Libya, according to the survey.
2020 Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index: www.agility.com/2020index

Japanese material handling giant Mitsubishi has announced further restructuring and integration of its European operations, but says its multibrand strategy, which includes UniCarriers and TCM, will be retained.

Under the name Mitsubishi Logisnext Europe (MLE), a member of the global Mitsubishi Logisnext Group, business and strategy execution will be run via an operational management covering all channels and brands with corporate and sales & services functions headquartered in Almere, the Netherlands.

Increased collaboration and synergies between the three supply units in Europe will improve optimisation in product portfolio, costs, and production efficiency , it says. Reflecting these changes all three entities will carry the “Mitsubishi Logisnext Europe” names.

The existing multi-channel and multi-brand strategy are continued. “We build further on Mitsubishi Forklift Trucks, Cat® Lift Trucks, UniCarriers, Rocla, and TCM for agility, maximizing market coverage and reinforcement of the forklift life-cycle customer value generation,” said the company.

The fully owned local subsidiaries within MLE will change names to carry the Logisnext company name. Following the above transformation, the present European management structures of Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift Europe and UniCarriers Europe are to be integrated into Mitsubishi Logisnext Europe structure.

Hiroyuki Shimma (above), President of Mitsubishi Logisnext Europe B.V., says: “By establishing an integrated Mitsubishi Logisnext Europe management and supply chain structure we strengthen the customer value creation and advance the global position of Mitsubishi Logisnext.”

Integrator Witron is to design and build a new DC for fast-growing UK general retailer TJ Morris Ltd. A family-run business based in Liverpool, its 550 Home Bargains stores are expected to number 1000 in a few years, it says.

Tom and Joe Morris signed the contract in December for the design and implementation of a 79,000 square metre, highly dynamic distribution centre in Warrington (North West England). It will store 12,000 different items from the dry goods assortment. Productive use is scheduled for mid 2023.

The Morris brothers said: “Witron absolutely convinced us – the high efficiency of the overall concept, the proven technology, as well as the evident culture of a family-run business: keeping promises, having the courage to innovate, rolling up one’s sleeves, short decision-making processes – these are values that are also important for TJ Morris. Values that impressed us from the very first meeting with Witron. The parallels between our companies as well as numerous successfully implemented projects speak for Witron as a trustworthy lifetime automation partner.”

“We at Witron are also very proud that TJ Morris continues its impressive company development – its promising path into the future – together with us”, says Jack Kuypers, Witron’s Vice President for the North West Europe sales region.

As a general contractor, Witron develops all IT-, control- and mechanical components. The logistics centre will be controlled by a multi-functional warehouse management system. Due to a high level of “supply chain intelligence”, the DC is integrated “end-to-end” into TJ Morris’ entire logistics network – starting with the supplier, including the transportation, and through to the end consumer. TJ Morris and Witron are currently working on the future operator concept for the plant. Here, Witron’s portfolio includes a wide range of services, which will be individually tailored to the customer’s needs in terms of maintenance, spare parts supply and system operation.

The mechanized system is designed for a daily picking capacity of 646,000 cases, which are sorted into roll containers and totes in a store-friendly and error-free manner. Witron’s highly dynamic logistics systems OPM (Order Picking Machinery) with 32 COMs (Case Order Machines), DPS (Dynamic Picking System), and the semi-automated CPS (Car Picking System) are handling this volume. A fully automatic shipping buffer intelligently decouples order picking from the shipping area so that all shipping units are made available for loading in the dispatch area by means of stacker cranes and heavy-duty lanes – ‘just in time’ sorted by routes and stores, in the optimal trailer loading sequence, and taking into account storage space utilisation.

“Thanks to its leading-edge technology, ergonomic and economic processes, as well as its size – the logistics centre will have more than 470,000 pallet, tray, and tote storage locations, more than 100 stacker cranes, and a conveyor network system of more than 15 km – the logistics centre will probably be the most modern of its kind in England. Almost 95% of the entire throughput will be handled fully- or semi-automatically and the remaining 5% will be handled manually. With a height of 38 metres, the facility is not only functional, but also visually impressive”, explains Duncan Pointon, Witron Sales Manager in the UK. “Witron’s OPM technology will be used for the first time ever in the United Kingdom.”

 

Three quarters (75%) of transport planning professionals have seen increasing pressure on their logistics operations to reduce environmental impact in the last 12 months, yet two thirds (66%) believe that much more needs to be done to keep pace with public pressure for action. These were just some of the key results from the Paragon Software Systems’ annual UK customer survey completed by more than 100 industry specialists.

The findings suggest that the greatest pressure for change is financial, with 56% of respondents highlighting added costs such as rising fuel prices. The need to comply with Central Government (36%) or Local Government (26%) regulation was very much a secondary driver, followed by the need to meet customer (22%) and internal (18%) CSR requirements. The results also point towards the importance of public and staff opinion, with 25% and 16% of respondents respectively claiming that significant pressure was coming from their growing dissatisfaction.

Almost half (46%) of respondents claimed that substantial green improvements had been achieved by their logistics operation in the past year, a far greater proportion than the 21% that said no positive results had been achieved. Where improvements had occurred, the vast majority was associated with reduced mileage and fuel usage as a result of enhancements to route planning and/or driver behaviour. However, 33% simply did not know because performance data was either not available or had not been shared, pointing towards the need for greater levels of visibility, measurement and reporting within logistics operations.

Unsurprisingly, sustainability initiatives over the past 12 months have been largely centred around the procurement of less polluting vehicles. Alternative fuel vehicles have yet to gain real momentum with only 18% of respondents adding them to their fleets, compared to 65% investing in Euro 6 diesel vehicles and 29% in aerodynamic or double deck trailers. This seems to be due to the high capital cost of greener vehicles and technology as well as the lack of viable alternative fuel vehicles, with 71% and 50% stating these were major barriers to reducing environmental impact. However, 37% did say that alternative fuel trials had been undertaken in 2019, so there is a growing appetite to explore emerging vehicle technology.

Improving fleet efficiency was also a key focus for many with 59% of respondents reviewing their logistics operations to identify areas of improvement and 56% introducing some sort of driver behaviour monitoring, engagement and training programme. Waste management has also become an important consideration amongst logistics operations with 43% increasing recycling and a quarter taking steps to reduce delivery packaging.

When asked what is likely to be most successful in reducing the environmental impact of the road transport sector in the next five years electric HGVs (69%) and electric / alternative fuel vans (55%) were by far the most popular responses. In addition, a significant number of respondents believed improved supply chain modelling (38%) had an important role to play as well as the introduction of urban bans for diesel vehicles (36%) and consolidation centres (19%). However, it is worth bearing in mind that 69% felt that only with new legislation will meaningful change be achieved and ensure the industry meet targets moving forward.

William Salter, Managing Director of Paragon Software Systems commented: “The widespread frustration with politicians and big businesses, culminating in protests worldwide during 2019, should act as a wake-up call to climate-polluting industries such as the road transport sector. Despite advances in more efficient vehicle technology, emissions omitted by HGVs and vans continue to rise, so much more needs to be done. The findings of our annual survey suggest that most logistics operations are in some way looking to operate efficiently, but this is perhaps more linked to cost reduction than part of a genuine strategy to minimise environmental impact.”