European Freight Village Ranking 2020: Lots of movement in the TOP 10

Freight villages have been among the most exciting and successful logistics locations in Europe for years. At the same time, all locations are increasingly subject to the diverse effects of logistics trends, which currently include topics such as "digitalisation", "shortage of skilled workers" and "sustainability in supply chains".

The DGG's third European GVZ ranking, which has been compiled every five years, provides very important insights into this world. The study focussed on the member countries of the European GVZ umbrella association "Europlatforms" (www.europlatforms.eu), which accompanied the study for the first time. The aim was to generate valuable new insights from the performance comparison of the locations for the further development of freight village centres in Germany and Europe.

The first striking aspect of the results is that the European "freight village landscape" has developed in such a way that more freight village countries are in the final TOP 10. While Italian and German locations dominated the TOP 10 in the past, five countries are now represented.

For the first time, GVZ Bremen takes the top position in the ranking. It is followed by the Interporto Quadrante Europa in Verona and the GVZ Nuremberg in second and third place: they were also able to maintain their positions as absolute European champions. One winner in this ranking from a German perspective is the JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven freight village with a huge leap to a place in the TOP 20.

Analyses of the GVZ development levels show that these have increased significantly across Europe in recent years. In particular, the development of their own freight villages is rated as very positive by the location managers, reaching a new high of 8.2 points.

	2010	2015	2020
FV development status Europe in total	5,8	6,5	6,6
FV development status own country	5,2	6,2	6,9
FV development status own FV	6,3	7,5	8,2

This positive development is reflected, among other things, in the high employment figures, the many attractive service facilities and the presence of dedicated freight village operators. In addition, the freight villages are positioning themselves successfully on the logistics market thanks to their high centrality and often trimodal transport connections. The associated (intermodal) networking of the freight village locations is also becoming increasingly important. Freight villages are also benefiting from the tailwind provided by the many new city logistics projects in urban European regions.

Where there is light, there is also shadow, so despite all the positive developments, challenges (weaknesses/risks) can also be recognised: A lack of expansion options is demonstrably hampering development at some locations. Even the shortage of skilled labour is no longer a predominantly German challenge. For the first time, risks due to climate impacts have also been comprehensively addressed and confirmed. Furthermore, the negative effects of existing trade conflicts and Brexit were recognised as potential risks.

The assessments of the respective GVZ location managers regarding the effects/contributions of their locations are also interesting. These were based on the following GVZ objectives on a scale from 0 to 10 (= very high)

I.	Importance of the GVZ for the region	8,6
II.	Intermodal modal shift	8,2
III.	Urban logistics	7,4
IV.	Green logistics	6,6

It can be seen that the GVZ locations have a very high significance for their regions almost everywhere in Europe. During the analyses/interviews in the ranking process, the GVZ managers sometimes used the term "lighthouse" for their locations.

The findings obtained in the ranking generally provide important insights and facts that strengthen the role of the intermodal centres as central logistics hubs in the awareness of various stakeholders. In addition, local managers benefit from the results of the comparison. Among other things, many management companies use their ranking for their own external presentation, e.g. to investors and potential settlers. The good positions and improvements in the ranking are therefore demonstrably important instruments in the respective marketing strategies. Furthermore, the freight villages in the middle and lower ranking regions of the European ranking benefit from the benchmarks of the leading freight village locations. This provides important impetus for all those involved at all levels.

European Freight Village Ranking 2015

Press Release - 30. November 2015

STEFFEN NESTLER / DR. THOMAS NOBEL

Positioning and Establishment of the Freight Villages (FV) in Europe 2015

German Freight Village Association updated the European Freight Village Ranking

There are many German freight villages which have been successfully positioned and established itself in the market. But what is their position in the European ranking? Could the strong market position be maintained or could there be something to learn from the experience of other European freight villages? These questions became the subject of the study.

The study of the DGG entitled „Positioning and Establishment of the Freight Villages (FV) in Europe is the second of its kind. The first one was carried out by the DGG (involved by the institutes ISL and LUB) in 2010. The current study presents the state of development as well as the development perspective of the European freight villages.

The aim of the data collection is to give an overview to the actors of the single locations about the international field of logistics and to encourage the further development of macro logistics concepts in Europe.

Basis of the study is the definition of the European FV- association “EUROPLATFORMS” relating to freight villages . Accordingly only those locations were chosen that provide characteristics in following fields: Intermodality, Structure of Management, Structure of Services

In the beginning of the survey, over 200 locations from over 30 European countries were identified and contacted. The current ranking includes 40 Benchmarks / Key Performance Indicators (KPI) divided into sixteen clusters. The assessment criteria were expanded by the latest and urgent aspects, as “Green Logistics” and “Security Management”.

Furthermore the position within the TEN-T corridor was observed to take into account the future freight flows in Europe.

The following list gives an overview of the most important findings:

Compared to the first European ranking in 2010, there is no change in 2015 among the TOP 3: Interporto Verona (Italia), GVZ Bremen (Germany) and GVZ Nürnberg. Besides the again good positioned locations, the Freight Village Berlin Süd Großbeeren can be seen as the “real champion” of this ranking, improving the ranking place from the 10th in the last ranking to the 4th in the current ranking. Another notable location is the freight village Leipzig which improved and got ranked within the “Top 10”, due to high number of measurements in employment and in the field of “Green Logistics”. The outstanding success of German Freight Villages is justified through the high Value Added Services that affect positive the employment level, high level of development as well as a high level of terminal capacity. The locations indicate also a remarkable market share of the total supply of real estates in the region.

Beside the German GVZ the Italian Interporti are the leading locations in Europe and therefore represent the international performance standards. A high share of combined transport is concentrated in the north of Italy. The Interporti (Italian name of freight villages) in this region operate as important gateways for the trans-Alpine traffic.

Spain is one of the pioneers of successful establishment of the Freight Village idea. The PLAZA Logistica Zaragoza for example reached 5th place. This was primarily due to the intensive use of the airfreight interface directly established within the FV: There, the global logistics processes of the textile manufacturer Inditex are concentrated - among other things, responsible for the also in Germany very successful fashion brand Zara.

In addition to Germany, Italy, Spain and Eastern Europe, also Delta 3 Dourges (France), Cargo Center Graz (Austria) and DIRFT Daventry (UK) ranked among the top FV.

But also in Eastern Europe the formation achieved success. So two locations from Poland - CLIP in Poznan - and from Hungary - BILK in Budapest - could improve and reached the “Top 20” as well. Funding for railways and intermodal terminals promote the development of Freight Villages, as for example in Poland. The automotive and logistics supplier are the main consumer of services the East European Freight Villages providing their development. The logistics real estate companies use also the favorable location of freight villages and offer their services to achieve PPP Solutions.

By contrast with the ranking 2010, the stage of development, not only throughout Europe, but also in the single countries and the Freight Villages themselves, has increased noticeably. Some new Freight Villages entered the current ranking. This success proves the success of freight village concept and promotes its development in Europe.

Freight Village Ranking 2015