Jones Lang LaSalle and the China Supply Chain Council (CSCC) recently partnered to undertake a survey of 138 domestic and foreign companies involved in logistics in China. The idea was to look at the potential of China’s logistics market and to provide new insights about the future.

Current logistics facilities are concentrated in the three main regional clusters, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Great Bohai Bay. According to the survey that is 85 percent of the total. Then comes Chengdu with 5 percent.

Trent Iliffe, head of Jones Lang LaSalle Industrial Business China, said, ‘The findings also indicate that plans over the next two years will see a continued focus on the three regional clusters, stable at 85 percent.’ However the survey also shows a shift away from Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta. This will be balanced by a rise in the Pearl River Delta at 35 percent, notably in Guangzhou (19 percent) and Shenzhen (15 percent) where there has been significant investment in road, rail and port infrastructure.

Security is seen as by far the most important extra service required of a warehousing facility, and levels of security are cited as the most critical problem area with current warehousing.

Trent Iliffe said, ‘A number of other shortfalls are also mentioned in the current warehousing provision, which has provided new insights into future building requirement in China. Even though, the China’s logistics market is still in its relative infancy, we can see it offers great opportunities and challenges to real estate. Balancing huge demand for property with regulatory hurdles and the lack of market transparency will be the key factor for the future success of the China Logistics Market.’