Page 27 - Logistics News - September October 2022

L O GIS TI CS REAL ES TATE

Benatar said: “What we’re seeing overseas is a will move products into cities on magnetic levitation rails
development of a hybrid, so the retail store will have a so that the last mile can be done with automatic electric
multifunctional, micro-fulfilment centre behind it, which is vehicles and that system would be going live in 2030.”
dedicated only to picking the online orders. Together with
the retail store in the front, which is customer-centric, you Brown elaborated: “Part of our job is identifying those
have an online store at the back of the store using the space locations and where the highway network is going to be
and picking orders for delivery. We’re going to start to see built and where we think the future nodes will be. If one
that happening in South Africa quite soon.” looks at the amount of warehousing logistics rights that
are in the spatial development framework in Ekurhuleni,
Plan more effectively for the future: Industry players it’s probably multiples of anything that a country our size
must look to international examples and monitor trends could ever use. Everybody says there’s so much flat land
more closely to remain competitive. Benatar believes to build warehouses on, but you need to have the land
that the industry should have a strategic master plan for serviced and you need to have it zoned correctly.”
logistics for the next 20 to 50 years. He cited examples of
projects that he has been involved in that were planned Brown concluded: The growth driver of logistics and L O GI S T I CS NEWS
many years in advance: “I did work in Switzerland in 2016 e-commerce will continue for the foreseeable future. We as
and was told that I needed to make sure that the warehouse Fortress Real Estate are fortunate to be in the driving seat
is compatible with an underground transport system that to power its growth.” •

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