Grade A Warehouse – Will it be the first choice?

Chandranath Dey, Head of Industrial Operations, Business Development, Industrial Consulting & Supply Chain Consulting, JLL India talks about the growing preference for Grade A warehousing spaces in the country and how Operational efficiency and better management will hold the key for occupiers and companies willing to make it big. With rising levels of maturity, the industrial and logistics sector is becoming more organised as well as standardised. Grade A space is one of the stepping stones in this process as it provides an ease in time-bound supply, customer satisfaction, risk-free environment and rationale in working capital requirement. There has been a quantum leap in demand for Grade A space over Grade B in the last year. While in 2017, overall India absorption in Grade A space was 9.9 mn sq ft against Grade B absorption of 9.8 mn sq ft year 2018 witnessed a significant jump of preference for Grade A space. In 2018, at a pan India level, Grade A absorption was 17.66 mn sq ft against Grade B absorption of 14.14 mn sq ft.

Few advantages that Grade A warehousing space has:

• Operational efficiency: Up to 30% additional open space; up to 30% space for internal cargo handling and up to 40% storage height to enhance traffic & cargo movement, use of modern MHEs and maximise storage load.
• Wide r cargo lines: Additional floor-load capacity (up to 50%) and storage height facilitates heavy/odd-dimension cargos and increases pallet position for standardised cargo, especially for long term storage.
• Prevention: Improved firefighting system, drainage system, floor-height and construction quality provides additional protection from unexpected threats and minimis es risk of probable in-store damages.
• Operational time management: Provision for sufficient parking, material handling and marshalling space optimises operational time and cost not only for vehicles and MHE operation but also for sorting/ identification of products.
• Clientele: Planned storage space, efficient material handling space, safety and security and better access/ connectivity are the predominant criteria for the MNC/ and the national brands.

Warehouses are the basic foundations for the supply chain of any company that relies on distribution of its products from factories to shops and to end users. For this, companies might choose to lease or own spaces, depending on the total costs involved.

Grade A warehouses are labelled on the basis of their superior construction quality, location, space, amenities, clients, among others. As online retail grows, Grade A warehouses have become a workplace of choice too, for many without a college degree. This is helpful for many from the employment perspective.

However, there are challenge: High cost of land sometimes comes as a challenge for investors interested in Grade A warehouses. Land cost constitutes a major component of a warehousing project investment.