Bringing production back and closer to Europe will also further boost demand in the Netherlands for secondary and tertiary locations for logistics buildings, real estate advisor JLL expects.

European companies are increasingly opting for countries such as Romania, Turkey and Morocco as an alternative to production in Asia and, for example, Ukraine. The reason is the serious disruption of distribution networks during the pandemic, with major bottlenecks in ports and airports and geopolitical developments, such as the Russia-Ukraine war.

Romania and Central Europe are typical reshoring countries, while Turkey and Morocco are the preferred countries for nearshoring, according to the JLL study. Due to a lack of space and a shortage of workers, JLL expects the demand for space for logistics to shift towards Central and Eastern Europe. There is more land and labour available at secondary and tertiary locations and demand can be facilitated.

But Jordy Verhoeven, head of Agency Industrial & Logistics at JLL, expects that shift will also have an impact on the logistics hotspots in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Tilburg and Venlo. “Since demand there is already greater than supply, we expect a further shift to secondary and sometimes tertiary locations. In our country, think of places such as Weert, Almelo and Lelystad. In recent years, these locations have already been met with increasing interest from both users and investors.”