If you run an online store that operates in Europe, you should consider moving your logistics processes to Poland. Why? There are several vital reasons that we are going to discuss in this article. Low labor costs, an educated workforce, and location in the very center of Europe are three of the crucial ones. Would you like to know all of them? Well, read on!
Every online store owner is vitally interested in decreasing operational costs and expanding business. This is especially true in times of COVID-19 when many markets experience previously unseen slumps.
Ecommerce entrepreneurs look for ways to expand their offer and range in order to stay afloat. Thankfully, we live in tremendous business-wise times, when companies have many different options to choose from. And logistics outsourcing is one of the most common ways for online stores to lower their costs and expand business range.
Logistics outsourcing allows you to:
- Turn fixed costs into variable costs: You pay only for utilized space and services.
- Save a lot of time: The logistics operator handles picking and packing, shipping, and even returns and complaints!
- Grow your business: Thanks to contracts with local and global carriers, logistics operators, just like Omnipack, can help you ship your products to almost every country on Earth, and at very attractive prices per parcel for that matter.
Let’s say you run an eCommerce company, and you are looking for a perfect country where you could outsource logistic processes. In many instances, your answer will be Poland. And there are some solid reasons to support that statement. Let us take a look at each one of them.
First of all, according to the World Bank, Poland has an LPI (Logistics Performance Index) of 3.54 (data from 2018)[1], which places us in a stable 28th place. This means that Poland has outrun countries like Ireland, Qatar, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Greece, or Bulgaria.
If you take a look at this diagram, you will see that we are not that far behind the leader (Germany), and when it comes to international shipments, we are almost neck and neck:
Take a look at the map!
Poland is in the very center of Europe. From here, you have quick and easy access to all the major European markets–Germany, the UK, France, Italy, and Spain. Primarily, that’s because some of the main trade corridors go through Poland:
TEN-T
It’s a Trans-European Transport Network. It comprises a Europe-wide network of railway lines, roads, inland waterways, maritime shipping routes, ports, airports, and railroad terminals. If you take a look at TENtec Interactive Map[2], you will see that two significant TEN-T corridors go through Poland:
- Baltic-Adriatic: Goes from Gdynia, Poland to Koper, Slovenia
- North Sea-Baltic: Goes from Helsinki, Finland to Antwerp, Belgium
According to the Polish Investment & Trade Agency, there will be 21 multimodal logistics hubs along TEN-T in place by 2020.
The Silk Road Economic Belts
Also known as China’s Belt or Road Initiative. Xi Jinping announced this project in 2013. This initiative represents an ambitious Chinese vision to promote infrastructural development and connectivity and stimulate economic integration across the entire Eurasian continent.
Currently, the Belt goes from China, through i.a. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Germany, up to Belgium.
That’s regarding road transportation, however, Poland has a developed sea and air transportation infrastructure as well[3].
Sea Cargo Terminals
There are three major sea cargo terminals in Poland:
- Szczecin: The port infrastructure, both in Szczecin and Świnoujście, allows you to service containers and other cargo units. The terminal's annual throughput capacity is 200.000 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit[4], a value based on the volume of a 20-foot-long (6.1 m) intermodal containers, which is a standard-sized metal box that can be easily transferred between different modes of transportation, such as ships, trains, and trucks). Szczecin offers regular shipping connections to the Scandinavian countries, Great Britain, Ireland, and Russia as well as container connections to the largest base ports–Hamburg, Bremerhaven, and Rotterdam. Moreover, Świnoujście offers ten daily ferry departures to Sweden and regular shipping connections to Norway.
- Gdynia: It’s a modern universal port specializing in general cargo handling, mainly unitized, transported in containers or via ro-ro system, based on a developed network of multimodal connections with facilities, regular short-sea shipping lines, and ferry connections. The Gdynia port is an important link in the Baltic-Adriatic corridor of the TEN-T Trans-European Transport Network.
- Gdańsk: Annual capacity of the terminal: 3,000,000 TEU. Storage area: 55,000 TEU. The annual capacity of the railway siding: 780,000 TEU. Gdańsk is one of the most important container terminals in the world, and in 2013 it secured the position of the largest container terminal in the Baltic Sea in terms of reloading.
Air Transportation
In Poland, there are many international airports that are also perceived as important cargo logistics hubs, out of which the largest include: Warsaw (Chopin Airport), Katowice, and Gdansk. Did you know that the Warsaw Cargo Terminal at the Chopin Airport is one of the largest in the CEE region? It supports all types of all-cargo aircraft, from the small ATR72 to the Boeing 747F or AN 124, and it has a high-bay warehouse adapted to the storage of large-size shipments.
The largest carriers are here
When it comes to courier services, Poland has everything you need. Almost all of the largest international carriers operate here and provide services for the eCommerce companies and logistics operators located in Poland.
As the eCommerce in Poland 2020[5] report indicates, Poles typically decide to order delivery via these companies:
- DPD: 30% of the answers
- DHL: 27%
- InPost: 23% (It’s a company that runs paczkomaty, self-service parcel pick-up stations that are located all over Poland and open 24/7)
- Pocztex: 9% (It’s a courier service provided by Poczta Polska–national post operator in Poland)
- UPS: 3%
- GLS: 3%
- FedEx: 1%
A relatively cheap and developed warehouse infrastructure
According to the Axi Immo’s Polish Warehouse Market In The First Half Of 2020 report, there is currently 19,5 million square meters of warehousing space in Poland. Another 1,77 million square meters is in progress. This means there's plenty of space for your store's inventory.
The most massive warehouses and logistics parks are located in many different places in Poland, although we have to mention that they are usually near various logistics hubs and airports.
Let’s take a look at some of the largest logistics parks that were put into operation in the first half of 2020:
- Panattoni A2 Warsaw Park (100,000+ sqm of warehousing space)
- BTS P3 PepsiCo Mszczonów (58,500 sqm)
- Hillwood Wrocław Wschód II (52,400 sqm)
- Panattoni Park Bydgoszcz II (36,600 sqm)
- BIK Park Wrocław I (23,900 sqm)
And you have to know that Polish warehouses are relatively cheap to rent. As the same report informs us, the base rent in big box facilities is around 3.2-3.6 EUR per 1 sqm per month.
In Germany, on the other hand, you have to be prepared to pay at least 5.4 EUR per 1 sqm per month. And it’s the lowest price. Average fee for that period and space in Germany is around 6 EUR, so Polish warehouses are almost twice as cheap!
Image source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/527832/warehouse-primary-rent-cost-logistics-market-germany-europe/
Now, let’s talk about the Polish workforce. In this regard, there are some good reasons to work with the Polish logistics operator as well!
Low labor costs and an educated workforce
Polish companies are able to provide high-quality services for much lower costs, compared to Western European companies. Mainly, that’s because wages in Poland are lower than in Western European countries, which positively impacts the costs of business operations and competitiveness.
The latest Eurostat data shows that the average cost of one working hour in Poland (in companies hiring at least ten employees) in 2019 was just 10.7 EUR. In markets like Germany, France, or Sweden, the cost of an employee's working hour is more than three times higher! The average hourly rate in the European Union is 27.7 EUR. For the most developed countries, it’s 31.4 EUR and more[6]!
We are also one of the busiest nations. In 2019, Polish workers spent, on average, 1,806 hours at work. In Europe, only Greeks (1,949 h) and Russians (1,965 h) work more[7].
Education
According to another OECD report[8], over 60% of 25-64-year-olds in Poland have upper secondary education. We are pretty good at English, too! In 2019, Poland scored 63.76 points in the EF English Proficiency Index. This result puts us in 11th place and gives us a “Very High Proficiency” band[9]. Interestingly, Poles speak English almost as well as Germans (only 0.01-point difference!).
In summary, Poland has an excellent infrastructure, it’s located in the midst of Europe, has an educated and relatively cheap workforce, and the Polish logistics offer is growing every year. This begs the question–why aren’t you here?!
With our help, all that Polish potential is at your service! You don't have to purchase a warehouse in Poland to move your logistics here. You can work with a logistics outsourcing partner like Omnipack. We have our own warehouses and handle the entire process on your behalf. And all of that at a very attractive price and transparent settlement. Interested? Drop us a line and move your logistics to Poland now!
[1] https://lpi.worldbank.org/international/global
[2] https://ec.europa.eu/transport/infrastructure/tentec/tentec-portal/map/maps.html
[3] https://www.paih.gov.pl/poland_in_figures/transport
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-foot_equivalent_unit
[5] https://www.gemius.pl/wszystkie-artykuly-aktualnosci/e-commerce-w-polsce-2020.html
[6] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Wages_and_labour_costs
[7] https://data.oecd.org/emp/hours-worked.htm
[8] https://data.oecd.org/eduatt/adult-education-level.htm#indicator-chart
