Panattoni is building a logistics centre for InPost in the Małopolska region. The well-known logistics operator will occupy over 9,000 sqm within a new city logistics park in Kraków. The complex is to be ready in September 2021 and will eventually be made up of two halls with a combined area of 36,500 sqm.
The first building in City Logistics Kraków I will have an area of 14,500 sqm and will be ready in September next year. InPost, the country’s largest logistics operator is to occupy 9,040 sqm within it. The remaining space as well as the second building of 22,000 sqm are to be built on a speculative basis and will be divided into small business units (SBUs). Because of this, and because of its superb urban location, the park will be an excellent solution particularly for e-commerce companies and courier firms.
“Space in urban parks is a crucial link along with the online store – courier company – consumer supply chain. it significantly eases the supply of goods at the last mile stage and shortens delivery times for parcels to the minimum. Without doubt, Kraków with its sizable population of 800,000 and its large consumer market has to arouse the interest of such companies, especially at a time when e-commerce and omnichannel sales strategies are developing rapidly. Shortening the supply chain is currently a priority for many logistics companies,” explains Marek Dobrzycki, Managing Director at Panattoni.
“In 2020, we built up our infrastructure very significantly and increased our ability to handle parcels by over 40 percent. This includes both InPost Paczkomat parcel lockers, which now number over 9000, as well as our network of sorting stations and logistics centres. However, parcel volumes are growing quicker than we anticipated, which is why we are not slowing down. InPost parcel lockers have proven very effective during the pandemic – allowing millions of parcels to be delivered on time but also being used in support of offices and hospitals. It makes us proud that our facilities help to solve everyday problems by offering delivery of all sorts of goods and documents without the need for face-to-face contact,” says Rafał Brzoska, the CEO of InPost.
He also points to a report by Gemius, which states that Paczkomat parcel lockers have already become the most commonly chosen form of delivery. As many as 61 percent of internet shoppers prefer their goods to be delivered in this manner. This is a rise in the popularity of the service among internet users of 9 percent in comparison to a similar report in 2019. For the first time in their history, Paczkomat parcel lockers have beaten courier deliveries, which was chosen by 55 percent of those surveyed. This is the first time such a result has been recorded anywhere in the world. Moreover, up to 68 percent of those surveyed state that being able to pick up their shopping from such an InPost machine was a reason for them to choose to shop from a particular online store. This represents a rise of 7 percentage points year on year.
Such growth in turnover requires an infrastructure expansion. Last year the company leased a total of 107,950 sqm – 4 percent of the total net demand in the country. InPost also led the CEP market in terms of the amount of space handed over for use in 2019 – which in total came to 57,863 sqm – ahead of both DHL and Poczta Polska [the Polish Post Office]. The locations opened by InPost in 2019 position the company as one of the top 3 most active e-commerce companies on the warehouse market – with the operator beaten only by Amazon and Zalando, to global giants in online sales.
Panattoni is responsible for a large part of this success. Right now, this logistics operator already occupies close to 30,000 sqm delivered to it by the developer in such cities as Toruń, Szczecin, Opole and Olsztyn. This quarter, further space is to be taken in A2 East Warsaw Park (8,200 sqm), Panattoni Park Lublin III (8,100 sqm), Panattoni Park Bydgoszcz II (2,470 sqm) and Panattoni Park Białystok II (8,500 sqm).
City Logistics Kraków I is being built in the administrative capital of the Małopolska region on ul. Cementowa. The centre is to be certified under BREEAM with a rating of ‘Very Good’. Just next to the park, is a bus and tram terminal, making the centre easy to access for employees. Additionally, the park is nearby a junction on the S7 road, which joins Kraków with Warsaw and the TriCity. It is also very quick to drive from there to the A4 motorway which runs from the border with Germany through Upper Silesia to the border with Ukraine.
