On the waterfront

There are many factors driving infrastructure upgrades in the commercial real estate sector at present. For us at ABP, it is important to invest in the right infrastructure to be able to help future-proof our customers’ businesses. It is also about building more resilient supply chains so that the ecosystems of different businesses that form on our ports can weather the economic storms and benefit from access to new technologies and state-of-the art facilities.

Indeed, because of the diversity of the space they offer as part of their portfolio, ports are becoming increasingly important strategic locations for businesses. It isn’t just warehousing they offer – they touch so many other parts of the supply chain – from container storage to yard space and driver facilities.

At the moment, we are observing that the market is becoming more challenging for 3PLs and the warehousing sector, and tenants are becoming more conscious about how important their property decisions are. They consider very carefully where their workforce would come from, and where they might find green energy solutions. Fortunately, ABP provides an answer for a lot of these complex challenges and this differentiates our ports.

Over the past year, our ABP Property leadership team has worked hard to develop a property strategy to help unlock new growth pathways, which are currently at the stage of implementation. This means there are more opportunities for asset management and maximising value through new development. This is why the company has been investing in expanding the team to secure the right skills to deliver these goals.

To set things in perspective, ABP has more than 2,000 tenants and a portfolio of over 8,500 acres across its locations. We welcomed around 150 UK-based occupiers last year. We also have significant development land opportunities and our message to occupiers is that we are open for business. In Southampton, we have two industrial estates, Marchwood and Ealing and they have a mix of port-related but also non-port related occupiers. Yes, we are by the water but what is also important is that we have connectivity to road and rail networks and those are key elements that are becoming more and more important when businesses choose where to locate.

What we have observed in the last couple of years is that the questions from occupiers around the use of space are becoming more nuanced. They ask how you are going to future-proof their business and where their staff are going to come from. It’s important to understand the requirements of our customers, this is especially important as we face a more challenging economic environment.

One of these requirements is an increasing need for sustainable solutions. At ABP, we launched our sustainability strategy, ‘Ready for Tomorrow’ which sets out our plans to reach net zero from our own operations by 2040 at the latest. In this strategy, we also outline our plans to invest around £1.4 billion in supporting large-scale green energy infrastructure projects to enable the wider UK energy transition. An example of this is the floating offshore wind opportunity at the Port of Port Talbot, where there is the potential to create around 10,000 jobs for the local community as well as help drive growth in this new technology. It is worth noting as well that this is a global market and there is a global race for green investment.

Port infrastructure needs to be ready ahead of time to capture first mover advantage for Wales, securing good quality jobs and landing investment in port infrastructure and manufacturing in south Wales. And then from a development perspective, we just acquired 220 acres in the North East, in Stallingborough, which is an example of how we are investing for growth.

The mix of uses in our portfolio – having lots of different types of tenants under one roof, is what differentiates us from inland sites, so if you are a business looking to optimise its supply chain, come and talk to us.

For more information, please visit: www.abports.co.uk