Szczecin still on top

Recent years have seen a dynamic development of key infrastructure investments in Szczecin and the whole region. These have contributed to improving transport accessibility and the investment potential of the region. The local market for warehousing projects has also grown along with these changes. More specifically, its capacity has increased six times since 2016! According to the latest report by Cushman & Wakefield, an international consulting agency, further investments are still very likely to appear.

The prospects for new investments of this kind are all the more real as the land obtained by developers will allow the construction of 900 000 square metres of warehousing and logistics facilities.

“For several years, Szczecin has increasingly attracted new investors looking for convenient locations for their warehousing projects. While this sector is relatively young, it is facing dynamic development”, said Piotr Krzystek, Mayor of Szczecin. “We are kindly inviting entrepreneurs and we are willing to meet their expectations, offering them comprehensive support at each stage of the investment process. The city’s attractive location and wide access to highly qualified workforce make Szczecin a very interesting place for activities focused on modern business services”.

The beginnings of the warehousing market in Szczecin were by no means easy and required a lot of effort. The first modern warehousing project ‒ Prologis Park Szczecin (now Mapletree Park Szczecin, with 41 800 square metres) ‒ was launched in 2008. From 2013 onwards, the market began to develop at a high speed. Since then, the supply has been growing successively year on year. 2017 was a breakthrough year, seeing a record-high annual increase in supply of nearly 325 300 square metres. This included two BTS investments significant for the region: the Zalando distribution centre built by Goodman in Gryfino (130 000 square metres) and a warehouse established by Panattoni for the global e-commerce giant Amazon, with an area of 161 500 square metres. Currently, in terms of warehousing space, Accolade is the largest investor in Szczecin. Park Szczecin I is not only a modern logistics centre but also an exceptional investment project developed on a post-industrial site.

Currently, Szczecin and the whole region are increasingly attracting the attention of foreign investors, especially those from Germany and Scandinavia. According to data for May 2023, made available by the Central Economic Information Centre, there are currently 1472 companies with German, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish capital in Szczecin and West Pomerania. And the upward trend is continuing ‒ of all the companies currently in operation, more than 400 were established between 2018 and 2022, i.e., by nearly 40% more than in the previous five-year period. Investors from Germany and Scandinavia are attracted by the geographical proximity of Poland and by a long-standing record of successful business activities of economic entities from these countries. Szczecin and the region are conveniently located within the logistic supply chain to/from Germany, Scandinavia and the rest of Poland. This location is a huge advantage of the region when it comes to locating western investments. 

“Access to all modes of transport, facilitating the transit of goods between southern Europe and Baltic countries, is another unquestionable advantage. West Pomerania is where many international routes for road, sea and rail transport cross, and good-quality infrastructure provides direct access to the European motorway system from Scandinavia to Southern and South-Eastern Europe, and from Western Europe to the Baltic states and Asia”, stressed Adrian Semaan, Senior Research Consultant, Industrial & Logistics Agency, Cushman & Wakefield.

The most important road construction investment currently underway is the S6 expressway, which will connect the Szczecin agglomeration, Central Pomerania and the Tricity, strongly contributing to the logistic and economic integration of the northern Polish regions. In the upcoming decade, Szczecin and the entire region will also gain access to the new S10 and S11 expressways, which will shorten travel times and facilitate transport towards the largest agglomerations in the central and southern regions of the country.

The development of cross-border logistics and a modern transport network, coupled with the availability of investment areas, translates into a rapid growth of the warehousing markets of both Szczecin and the whole West Pomerania.

“It is currently the seventh largest warehousing location in the country. The supply of this type of investments in the region has already reached 1.15 million square metres, with investments completed during the past six years accounting for 85% of that figure, and those completed in 2021-2022 for almost 35%”, said Paulina Machałowska, Associate, Industrial & Logistics Agency.

Most spaces under implemented projects are fully occupied although 2022 saw an increase in the availability of warehousing space as a result of increased development activities, including speculative supply. At present, according to Cushman & Wakefield, 94 000 square metres of warehousing space remain under construction.

Development investments in the West Pomeranian region are situated in several strategic localities, the top three being Szczecin, Goleniów and Stargard. Szczecin, including the Dąbie and Załom areas, attracts companies from across many industries, in particular logistics, distribution and e-commerce companies, many of which serve Scandinavian markets. Goleniów primarily attracts logistics companies while Stargard, located within the S10 expressway, is of particular interest to manufacturing companies due to the availability of workforce and its industrial traditions.

Due to ongoing investments in transport infrastructure as well as the continuing socio-economic development of the West Pomeranian sub-regions, the projects map is expanding to include new locations such as Koszalin, Kołbaskowo and Nowogard. According to the Cushman & Wakefield data, at the beginning of 2023, there were 18 commercial industrial and logistics projects in the whole West Pomerania. When including the ongoing and planned investments, this number grows to more than 30 such projects. And this by no means exhausts the investment potential of the region. As noted by Damian Kolata, further infrastructure investments provide the opportunity to create other mini industrial-logistics hubs which will contribute to the development of West Pomerania and provide more new jobs.

For more information, see Cushman & Wakefield’s latest report, Catching the Business Wave of logistics and warehousing in Western Pomerania. The report was presented during an industry meeting on Cargo airport and the development of the logistics industry in Szczecin, organised by the Szczecin Development and Metropolis Agency.

The report can be downloaded from: https://industrial.pl/

Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) is the world’s leading consulting company providing services to tenants and owners of commercial space. Cushman & Wakefield is one of the world’s largest real property consulting firms, with approximately 52 000 employees in 400 offices and 60 countries worldwide.