Online sales gave the warehousing market in Poland a game-changing boost. According to a report by the global commercial real estate advisory firm, Cushman & Wakefield, as much as 31% of Polish warehouses are currently servicing E-commerce needs. Just two years earlier this was 24.5%.
In the last five years, Polish warehousing space have doubled, increasing by 12.5 million square meters. This means that nearly 25 million sqm are in use today, of which 7.35 million are occupied by the growing online sales sector. These are modern, automated production halls, managed by complex algorithms. The circulation of stored goods increases in speed, which means that online shoppers receive their parcels at previously unattainable delivery times.
The authors of the report point out that Polish warehouses offer an increasingly high-tech infrastructure compared to other European markets. The highest number of uber-modern warehouses is being built in the Western and Central parts of Poland, especially in Lower Silesian (1 445 000 sqm), Lodz, (1 046 000 sqm) and Silesian (1 032 000 sqm) voivodeships. This is connected to the proximity of the Western border as well as to the accessibility of international transportation routes.
Especially the S3 expressway that runs along the Western border concentrates a lot of the new warehousing investment fueled by the growth of E-commerce. Such hubs, running on AI-powered systems have already sprung in Legnica, Głogów, Zgorzelec, Słubice, Rokitno, Świebodzin, Zielona Góra i Gorzów Wielkopolski.
When looking at the bigger picture, the supply of logistics services to E-commerce is accelerating in several regions in Western Poland. In Lower Silesia the demand in 2021 grew by 102%, reaching 729 000 sqm of warehousing space. In Greater Poland the growth was even greater: 142% to 579 000 sqm. Silesia saw a 66% growth, which translated into 411 000 sqm of new space needed to meet the growing demand.
Some experts estimate that this is just the beginning of a longer trend of growth, as human efforts are catching up with the exponential growth generated by new technologies: https://navigal.eu/en/services-en/