THE industrial and logistics real-estate sector is poised for growth in 2022 as warehouses are still experiencing significant demand boosted by the vibrant e-commerce market.
Kash Salvador, head of investment and capital markets of Santos Knight Frank told the BusinessMirror in an online interview that the property management and consultancy firm has seen growing transactional activities in areas south of Metro Manila such as Calabarzon—a region with a substantial supply of warehouses, storage spaces and industrial properties.
“While repurposing real-estate into storage spaces has been popular during the pandemic and has increased options for a number of occupiers, there is still a challenge in terms of the supply of fully equipped storage facilities. The opportunity for real estate developers and warehouse operators will be in underserved places like North Luzon where infrastructure development is helping ease access,” Salvador explained.
In another interview, Colliers Philippines concurred with Santos Knight Frank that industrial and logistics will experience robust growth in 2022 driven by sustained demand in e-commerce, logistics and manufacturing across the country. In the first half of 2021, Colliers recorded industrial vacancy in the Cavite-Laguna-Batangas (CALABA) corridor declining to 5.6 from 5.7 percent in 2020. Colliers traced the drop to the increase in demand for warehouse and storage space among e-commerce and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) firms as online shopping continues to grow in the country.
According to the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) e-commerce road map, the sector is projected to contribute about P1.2 trillion ($25 billion) by 2022.
Joey Roi Bondoc, associate director of Colliers Philippines told the BusinessMirror in an online interview that they expect a rise in demand for cold storage facilities sustaining demand for industrial assets in the next 12 to 36 months. The Board of Investments (BOI) projects the revenue of the country’s cold chain industry to reach P20 billion ($417 million) by 2023. “To meet the growing demand, we encourage developers to consider expanding their industrial portfolio to include cold chain facilities or refurbish existing supply by incorporating specialized cold storage features such as pre-installed chillers, increased floor load capacity, and higher ceiling heights,” Bondoc said.
Bondoc said they expect supply to increase in 2021 with the completion of expansion projects such as the Lima Technology Park Expansion in Batangas, Cavite Technopark Phase 2, and the Suntrust Ecotown Tanza Phase 2. Nevertheless, Colliers expects vacancy rates to continue declining as the demand for warehouses and industrial spaces is likely to thrive beyond 2022.
“Colliers believes that developers can further capture the rising opportunities in the industrial sector by refurbishing existing warehouse facilities. We encourage developers to utilize advanced-technology such as facility automation, artificial intelligence [AI] systems, and cloud-managed IT solutions,” Bondoc said.
Innovation a key to Airspeed’s growth
Logistics service provider Airspeed is now regarded as one of the major players in the country. The Covid-19 was the acid test for the company and it was able to hurdle the challenges hurled by the pandemic. In fact, Airspeed took a massive role in serving the nation by improving and expanding its processes, facilities, and roster of services. Moreover, Airspeed was able to expand by opening new establishments in Bacolod, Negros Occidental and Cubao, Quezon City. In response to the e-commerce boom, Airspeed established three new e-fulfillment warehouses—one in Carmona, Cavite, and two in Parañaque, which are capable of handling cross-docking and fulfill the requirements of businesses that sell products online in their back-end operations.
Airspeed also raised the bar in their specialized services: Speedgifts, an online gifting platform offered for global Filipinos who want to send gifts to their loved ones anywhere in the Philippines; UnboxMe, a cross-border delivery platform that allows customers to seamlessly shop on US web sites and get these goods delivered to their Philippine addresses; and Pinaspeed, an online pick-up and delivery service which makes sending gifts easier and hassle-free. Meanwhile, there’s Speedfood and Speedgrocer, an online delivery service platform which help merchants reach a bigger market and provide the dedicated demand needs of their consumers.
“We listen to our customers and we innovate based on what’s required. We will continue to enhance the platforms that we started during the pandemic. We are building our E-fulfillment centers across the nation and increasing our coverage. Airspeed also has a dedicated team to help MSMEs across the nation, one community at a time,” Airspeed founder, chairperson and president Rosemarie Rafael told the BusinessMirror in an online interview.
Under her leadership, Rafael has made sure that Airspeed upholds the values of loyalty, respect, integrity, balance, honor, excellence and stewardship; values that she herself believes in. In recognition of her work, Rafael has received several awards from different prestigious organizations such as the APEC Top Best Awards 2021 for Best in Business Sustainability in Tackling the Pandemic Asia CEO Awards Circle of Excellence for Global Filipino Executive of the Year.
Although it accomplished several milestones in 2021, Airspeed will not rest on its laurels and in fact will continue to go full throttle in 2022. “While the demand for the logistics industry is growing and there is also increased competition, we believe that we have earned the trust of our customers and we do not only handle the freight requirements but we give them peace of mind. As long as our vision and direction are clear to each and every Airspeed employee, we will be able to achieve our goals.”