New Economy Forcing Warehouse/Distribution Hubs to Become More Efficient

ORLANDO-The warehousing business today isn’t what it was 25 years ago and may never again operate as it did only 10 years ago, world-traveler and longtime Orlando corporate real estate executive George D. Livingston tells GlobeSt.com. New efficiencies triggered by globalization and a liberalization of trade policies are bringing about the change.

“Large-scale distributors, trying to maintain less inventory and to deliver it more quickly, are turning to third-party logisticians to achieve maximum efficiency,” Livingston says. New emerging hub centers and new types of warehouse and distribution centers are surfacing.

Several gateway cities are emerging as clear leaders in this new phase of the warehousing business, Livingston says. Among them: New York, northern New Jersey, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and San Francisco.