Despite signs of improvement in the last quarter, the fact is, Australia has the tightest warehousing market globally. The national vacancy rate for industrial logistics space was 1.9 per cent in the second half of 2024 – the lowest in the world.
Moreover, vacancy rates differ per city and per suburb, meaning that some industrial areas have no vacancy at all – such as the South East Melbourne suburbs of Braeside and Scoresby (both are at zero per cent). And as far as Australian cities go, whilst it might be assumed that the Eastern Seaboard capital cities would be the tightest, Perth actually has the lowest vacancy rate in Australia, hovering at just 1.4 per cent.
Why does this matter? As Chris Littlewood of Combilift says, it should make any warehousing business consider how they are using their available rack and floor space.
“We know these figures are aligned with what our customers are saying – it’s tight, and even with some improvements, the fact is, relocation or even expanding an existing warehouse space is probably not an option in this market,” explains Littlewood. “Which is why it’s critical to look at how you are using rack space and see if you could increase your storage capacity.”
According to Littlewood, this was one of the key motivations behind the design of the Combilift Aisle Master, an articulated forklift designed to work in very narrow aisles of down to 1.85 metres.
“We wanted to help customers save space by being more efficient, but not in any way compromising on safety, in fact we wanted to improve safety, and we’ve achieved that with the Aisle Master,” he says. “All of our customers see an increase in their warehouse storage, some by as much as 60 per cent. At the same time, most report a reduction in safety incidents.”
But Littlewood is quick to say he’d rather let the facts speak for themselves. He invites readers to download a free forklift comparison guide that shows how Aisle Master compares with standard counterbalance forklifts and reach trucks. The guide also provides a detailed and real example of how savings can be achieved.
For more information, click here.
References
- https://www.cbre.com.au/press-releases/australias-industrial-logistics-vacancy-rate-increases-but-remains-the-lowest-globally#:~:text=The%20national%20average%20vacancy%20rate,in%20the%20country%20at%201.2%25.
- https://www.theindustrialist.com.au/news/2024/08/20/south-east-melbourne-australia%E2%80%99s-tightest-industrial-market-jll%C2%A0/1724136801