Tag: transport

Spain will Defend the Creation of a European Fund to Refloat Tourism and Transport

The Government is going to take its proposal to the European Council to create a fund amounting to between €1 trillion and €1.5 trillion to boost the economic recovery after the pandemic.

The Government is going to take its proposal to the European Council to create a fund amounting to between €1 trillion and €1.5 trillion to boost the recovery after the coronavirus pandemic, focusing on infrastructure and tourism.

The fund would be used to finance reconstruction initiatives with a special focus on the sectors most affected by the cessation of activity and the lockdown measures, such as transport and tourism.

XPO Logistics Inaugurates its First ‘Last Mile’ Operations Centre in Spain

4 June 2018 – Eje Prime

XPO Logistics, the provider of transport and logistics solutions, is expanding its service in Spain. The group has recently launched two centres in Puerto de Sevilla, which together span almost 10,000m2. Both facilities are located in the Puerto’s ZAL (Logistics Activities Zone) and one of them is going to be the site of XPO’s first last mile operations centre in Spain.

XPO is also working on additional extensions to its last mile network in other Andalucían provinces, including opening an operations centre in Málaga dedicated exclusively to that activity.

This intensive service logistics area consists of specialised delivery, at-home assembly, and installation of large consumer products, such as furniture and household appliances. The 50 loading bays at the plants in Sevilla will be used to support the growing demand for the company’s last mile service, as well as its palleted cargo network (LTL) in Spain and Portugal.

XPO is present in all of the Andalucían provinces, where it operates a total of ten centres, owned and leased, including these two centres in the ZAL of Puerto de Sevilla. The company serves more than 500 clients of varying sizes and sectors across the region. XPO’s palleted cargo network in Spain includes 70 distribution centres and transports more than 4 million pallets per year, making it the national leader in this segment of activity.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Axiare Leases 2 Industrial Warehouses In Madrid To Transaher

16 May 2017 – Inmodiario

Axiare Patrimonio Socimi SA has leased a total surface area of 42,000 m2 to the company Transaher. This is the first turnkey project measuring more than 30,000 m2 to have been constructed in the first (logistics) ring of Madrid since 2010.

Cushman & Wakefield, the global leader in real estate services, has advised the Socimi on this operation, which includes a logistics warehouse measuring 26,500 m2 and a cross-docking building covering 16,300 m2. The latter will also include a surface area for office use, where Transaher will establish its main headquarters.

Both buildings will be constructed with Class A specifications for logistics operators and will have a Gold LEED certification.

“We think that this is a very important operation for the owner of the project, because it has managed to close a turnkey operation spanning more than 40,000 m2, as well as for the tenant, which is going to have some new flagsgip facilities, with very high-quality standards. In this sense, the efficiency of the project will be maximised”, explained Guillermo García-Almuzara Rodríguez, Director of Logistics & Industrial at Cushman & Wakefield Spain.

“Transaher is a logistics company that is continuously expanding and through this project, we will boost our two business lines: Transport in the cross-docking building, and Logistics. By having two buildings in the same park, we will be able to strengthen the Same-day and home-delivery services to Logistics clients, as well as significantly extend the cut-off times for warehouse orders, by increasing the synergy with transport. Moreover, the location is exceptional in terms of connections, which will positively influence distribution”, said Mª Luz Cobos, Director General of the Transaher Group.

Completion in 2018

The development of Axiare’s logistics park in San Fernando de Henares spans more than 70,000 m2, of which 60% is already leased. The park is home to another logistics building, measuring 28,000 m2, which is configured to deal with demand for spaces of 5,000 m2 upwards. Completion of the warehouses is scheduled for H1 2018.

“We think that the San Fernando park is going to be a role model, both in terms of the quality and versatility of the building, as well as its magnificent location and environmental features, given that it will benefit from a Gold LEED energy rating”, added García-Almuzara.

Original story: Inmodiario

Translation: Carmel Drake

Gesvalt: Madrid’s Logistics Sector Grows For First Time Since 2009

13 February 2017 – Observatorio Inmobiliario

The leasing of industrial warehouses in the Community of Madrid increased in 2016 for the first time in eight years following a recession in the logistics sector. The evolution of the market in the region last year confirms the positive forecasts that experts predicted at the end of 2015. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that this increase in the volume of space leased in the logistics sector was mild and gradual over the whole period, according to the conclusions of the latest report from Gesvalt, a consultancy and asset valuation company.

Sandra Daza, Director General at Gesvalt, considers that “these are noteworthy figures because they are evidence of the reactivation of the sector, which will also undergo more changes over the next few years, due to the reactivation of consumption and the evolution of e-commerce”. In this sense, Daza forecasts that “we are going to see an increase in the supply of these types of industrial warehouses, especially in Madrid and Barcelona”.

In the province of Madrid, which has 43 industrial estate areas, the distribution of industrial space is divided as follows: 32% production, 22% storage, 12% logistics, 7% commercial and 27% business parks.

The extractive and manufacturing sectors are giving way to the drive from the storage and distribution sectors. Large firms dedicated to this activity are moving into the region and are demanding large surface areas, close to large populations and with access to fast roads. Nowadays, these types of assets are the star product in the logistics and industrial sector in Madrid. By contrast, investors have lost interest in smaller warehouses on old industrial estates and the few operations that are taking place are being closed at almost cost prices.

In 2017, the aforementioned change is expected to be consolidated, with slight increases in rents. Returns could reach 7% and a minimal increase is expected in the volume of operations.

Almost 50% of the investors that are operating in the industrial market in the region are domestic and international institutions, whilst the other half comprise Socimis and family offices. By contrast, large financial institutions are the main vendors of these types of products.

80% of the operations in the Community of Madrid in 2016 were located in the Corredor del Henares, although the volume of surface area leased was still low (150,000 m2).

The interest in the market for rental over sale, the scarcity of land in really attractive areas and the relative low rates of return (6%) confirm that although the recovery of the sector is underway, it still has a long way to go.

Within the Community of Madrid, the municipality with the greatest volume of industrial activity is Fuenlabrada, which accounts for 25% of the total and is home to 21 industrial estate areas.

The large Mercamadrid industrial estate, located in the industrial area of Villa de Vallecas, is the largest in the Community of Madrid (1,8000,000/2,000,0000 m²), followed by the Vicálvaro industrial estate, which is as big as the Cobo Calleja de Fuenlabrada estate (1,750,000/1,800,000 m²). (…).

Original story: Observatorio Inmobiliario

Translation: Carmel Drake

Belgian Interest In Spanish Holiday Homes Skyrockets

6 April 2015 – El Mundo

Last year Belgian citizens purchased 21% more homes in our country (than during 2013), attracted by the low prices.

The Belgian group Stella predicted it in the early 90s, in one of the most popular songs in the country’s history: “on ira tous, tous tous a Torremolinos” (we will all, all all, go to Torremolinos). That omen is now a reality since Belgians are coming to Spain in increasingly large numbers and not just for one-off holidays, but also to become homeowners. During 2014, the citizens of the country acquired 3,507 homes on Spanish soil, almost 21% more than in 2013 and, although at the time they had a certain predilection for the Malaga town, the truth today is that their interest has spread across the whole country.

“Prices have risen so much in Belgium and have fallen so much in Spain that it has become very affordable (for us) to buy a home on the Mediterranean (Coast)”, says Bertrand Florent, resident of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in Brussels, where it costs more than €300,000, on average, to buy a home.

This reasoning has led him to think about investing his money in a second home in Spain where, for less than €100,000, he could increase the statistics that show how (interest in) our domestic market has become an authentic boom for Belgian citizens.

The increase in house prices in Belgium, together with the decline in the Spanish market during the crisis, has converted the Belgians into the main non-resident foreign purchasers of homes in Spain, on a proportional basis.

They are only slightly exceeded (in absolute terms) by the citizens of the United Kingdom and France, two countries where the number of inhabitants is several times higher than the Belgian population of just over ten million.

Nevertheless, “several factors should be taken into account”, says Antoine Bourgeois, real estate advisor in Brussels. “Belgians used to spend time on the Belgian coast or in the South of France. However, real estate prices have risen sharply there, and so Belgians have decided to focus on other destinations”. This exodus has also been helped by the evolution in the means of transport and the fact that now there are more – and cheaper – flights than ever linking Belgium with various locations in Spain.

The rise in prices has been observed across the whole country, where the market has grown like wildfire in recent years, to the extent that average house prices doubled in Belgium between 2002 and 2012.

This development has led the OECD – Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development – to consider Belgium as one of the countries in which house prices are most over-valued in the world, with rates that, in 2013, significantly exceeded the averages in other western countries, both in terms of the differences between prices and wages, as well as between sales and rentals. This data led the credit ratings agency Standard & Poor to warn about the creation of a real estate bubble in the country although, since last year, the market has shown signs of stabilisation.

Original story: El Mundo (by Alberto F. De Quer)

Translation: Carmel Drake