Tag: warehouse

Misco to close UK warehouse

Posted on August 22, 2017 by - News

il_570xN.386643874_phvgReseller Misco is to close its UK warehouse at the end of the year.

The outfit said that the rise of drop-shipping has decimated its usage and made it inefficient. Instead it had a cunning plan to save a minimum of £1.5 million a year by outsourcing its warehouse functions to a third-party logistics provider.

Misco’s CEO Alan Cantwell confirmed that all 65 warehouse staff at the 80,000 sq ft location will be collecting their p45s and pink slips.

The existing 24 sales staff will relocate to a new office nearby in Q1 of 2018, he said.

Cantwell led a management buy-in of Misco in March and the move is part of the new team’s efforts to return it to break even after group losses reached about £16 million last year.

Some 105 UK staff have already left the business under a recent sales and marketing restructure, while headcount at Misco’s Budapest shared service centre has also been slashed from 340 to 200.

The logistics centre there was set up to ship 6,000 parcels daily, and at present the company is only shipping between 400 and 500. This was mostly because it is drop shipping pretty much everything and most parcels now go straight from logistics through to the clients.

Misco is in the throes of negotiating a contract with a third-party logistics provider which will take over the functions before Christmas. Its shortlist has been whittled down to two, with a decision set to be made in the next week.

Warehouse space in demand

Posted on July 11, 2013 by - News

castlewarehouseAlthough growth remains slow, demand for new warehouses and distribution facilities in London and other economic hubs remains surprisingly strong.

According to Colliers International, demand is being fueled by anxiety on the part of some institutional investors, who are worried about the future of multifamily markets.

In addition to London, space in other centers with access to good infrastructure, ports and inland distribution centers is also at a premium. Munich is big, thanks to the strong performance of German car makers.

Erik Barnekow, head of EMEA Industrial and Logistics at Colliers said Hong Kong and Sydney are nearing full capacity. Seoul is also big, but it is experiencing uneven industrial demand. Demand is expected to stay strong through the end of the year, with a special emphasis on build-to-suit facilities.

Colliers points out that the recovery of the European logistics market remains patchy, reflecting a lack of momentum in the retail trade.

Although demand in London is strong, the number of modern facilities is limited and there aren’t many new investments. The report found that modern shed space in Greater London is now “severely limited” with only very modest levels of new supply anticipated over the next 18 months.

The Heathrow zone has seen practically no new speculative development over the past four years, which is a direct consequence of the volatile economic climate. It is no better in South, East or West London and there is very little grade A stock available.

However, a few new build-to-suites were constructed over the last 12 months, but vacancy levels are low and there is still a huge shortage of new space coming to market.

Warehouse space hits record low

Posted on February 25, 2013 by - News

forkliftRetail is hurting and the slowdown now appears to be trickling down to warehouse outfits, who are slowly running out of space. 

According to a report from Jones Lang LaSalle, the amount of warehouse space available in the UK is at its lowest level since records began. Some regions are already experiencing shortages of immediately available space.

Tim Johnson of Jones Lang LaSalle told Logistics Manager that the amount of immediately available new floor space is at its lowest level since his outfit started keeping records and it currently sits at just 8 million sq ft UK-wide.

“This is 71 per cent below its pre-recession peak of nearly 29 million sq ft in March 2008 – this definitely affected take up levels last year,” he said.

The vacancy rate in December 2012 stood at about 10 percent across the UK. Overall take-up in 2012 was lower than in 2011 due to a lower level of overall economic activity. Worse, occupier demand slowed down in 2012, but even so the amount of available space kept declining. Construction of new facilities slowed down after the 2008 meltdown and it is currently at the lowest level since 2005.

Jon Sleeman, director EMEA Logistics & Industrial Research at Jones Lang LaSalle, pointed out that the availability of good quality space is now becoming a real issue and some clients are being forced to consider alternatives, such as build to suit developments. On a positive note, he argued that some developers with infrastructure and planning in place stand to benefit from the downturn.