For too long warehousing was below the government’s radar. The Cinderella service. White papers, reports and policy proposals for the ‘Logistics Industry’ invariably focused on transport and distribution, but largely overlooked storage and the solutions that go with it. Of course the movement of goods is essential to supply chains, but so are the intermediary stopping places on the journey.
The logistics industry has changed immeasurably. We all know that it’s not just about trucks and sheds anymore, but is infinitely more complex, particularly post-pandemic as e-commerce, order fulfilment and home delivery have transformed the logistics landscape.
Our role as the voice of the warehousing industry is to engage with government, ensuring that the seismic changes within the sector have been fully understood and recognised, putting warehousing firmly on the agenda for future policy consideration.
Accordingly, we commissioned expert consultants Aricia to prepare a comprehensive report on our sector, specifically for DLUHC (the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities), who will act as the lead government department for the sector). This study tells our story; outlining the key drivers for warehouse location and suggesting strategic infrastructure improvements to create a wider footprint beyond the ‘Golden Triangle’, while explaining the urgent need to attract more workers to warehousing.
The report is based primarily on e-commerce, as that’s where we have seen most growth and most change – with three times more space required for order fulfilment than for traditional retail storage and distribution. It highlights the very different service requirements from previous catalogue ‘mail order’ models operated by the likes of Littlewoods or Grattans, including the need for locations close to populations, ports and airports – with good access to labour pools, reliable electricity supplies to support automation, refrigeration and EV charging, and with good connectivity for data transfer.
In common with another report we launched earlier this year – Levelling Up the Logic of Logistics, which we worked on with the British Property Federation – the thrust of Aricia’s findings is that the warehousing sector can contribute to the government’s levelling up agenda. Warehouses are required to serve the new generation of home shoppers; they bring jobs and deliver essential services to the community. Scarcity of land and eye-watering rents in London and the Southeast are combining to move the focus for many north of the Golden Triangle. Our plea is for more land and better support to enable warehouse operators to embrace automation and create high quality working environments to attract and retain staff.
The Future of Freight plan, published by the government last month was encouraging in its inclusion of the warehousing sector and its acknowledgement of some of the key challenges we face. Here at UKWA we are further encouraged by the warm reception of our report by Tony Bray, Deputy Director – Local Engagement and Response, Resilience & Recovery Directorate at DLUHC, who expressed his gratitude to UKWA for taking this initiative forward and described the report as really valuable in supporting the department as it develops its cross-government role.
Clare Bottle
UKWA, CEO
Comments are closed.