Best practices: growing logistics operations with limited land use.

31/01/2024 - 1 min read

Land is now the scarcest input in European logistics, scarcer than labour or capital. Yet demand for warehouse space keeps climbing. The companies pulling ahead aren’t the ones with more land, they’re the ones extracting more capacity from the square metres they already have.

In a land-constrained market, warehouse performance is measured not in square metres, but in what you do with every one of them.

This report is a working reference for anyone deciding where to build, how high to build, and whether automation actually pays for itself, not another vendor pitch dressed up as insight.

Why it matters now

Land scarcity in western Europe is structural, driven by e‑commerce reshaping last-mile expectations and the shift from just-in-time to just-in-case inventory. For CFOs, that puts space efficiency on par with headline rent in capital decisions. For warehouse and automation leads, choices like aisle width, mezzanine height and shuttle systems determine whether a site absorbs five more years of growth or hits a wall in eighteen months.

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What’s inside

Wehkamp and Brocacef: real figures on racking levels, mezzanine heights and picking throughput from reconfigured existing warehouses.
René de Koster, professor of logistics and operations management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, on the true trade-off between delivery speed and warehouse cost, and where vertical warehousing pays off.
Six practical tips for reconfiguring existing space without a new building permit.
Barry Callebaut and De Jong Verpakking: height, capacity and automation specs behind two of the Benelux’s most space-efficient new builds.
stow Group and Logflow on when robotisation and shuttle systems justify the investment, and when they don’t.

Who it’s for

Supply chain directors weighing expansion. CFOs assessing capital efficiency. Warehouse managers under pressure to raise throughput. Automation leads building their next business case.

The takeaway

Underused space is everywhere, in aisles too wide, ceilings left empty, buildings designed for yesterday’s throughput. This report shows how leading operators are closing that gap. Download it to see where your own warehouse still has room to grow.