Warehousing boom lifts 3PLs
Warehouse leasing is surging as shippers seek domestic options to manage tariff and trade risk, and 3PLs are leading much of that demand. (theglobeandmail.com) At the same time, big platforms are investing in smarter, lower‑cost storage — Amazon’s Shenzhen smart warehouse aims to cut merchant storage costs by about 45% — which raises competitive pressures on 3PLs’ cost and technology capabilities. (scmp.com)
Warehouse tenants are signing bigger, longer deals again, and third-party logistics companies are taking a larger share of them as importers look for domestic buffer space. (cbre.com) CBRE said third-party logistics providers signed 44 of the top 100 United States industrial leases in 2025, up from 28 in 2024. The average lease term in those top 100 deals rose to about 98 months from 92 months a year earlier. (cbre.com) The biggest clusters of those leases were in the Inland Empire, Chicago and Dallas-Fort Worth, with secondary hubs including Indianapolis, Columbus and Greenville-Spartanburg joining the top 10. CBRE said those markets benefited from scale, transport links and access to large population centers. (cbre.com) A third-party logistics company, or 3PL, runs warehousing and shipping for brands that do not want to build that capacity themselves. More companies are using that model as trade policy swings make it harder to decide how much inventory to hold and where to put it. (cbre.com) (prologis.com) Prologis said customers increased imports and inventories in the first half of 2025 to get ahead of tariff-related disruption, and its second-quarter Industrial Business Indicator showed leasing activity and proposals improving from the prior quarter. The company also said warehouse use rates were rising as customers grew into space they had already leased. (prologis.com) That demand is arriving just as large platforms are trying to make storage cheaper with software and automation. Amazon said on April 15, 2026 that its first smart warehouse in Shenzhen could cut storage costs for local merchants by as much as 45 percent. (scmp.com) The Shenzhen site combines local storage, customs clearance, cross-border shipping and inventory transfers in one system aimed at Chinese sellers shipping abroad. Amazon is rolling it out as competition for those merchants intensifies from Shein, Temu and TikTok Shop. (scmp.com) (techinasia.com) That leaves warehouse operators and 3PLs chasing two demands at once: more domestic space for customers that want flexibility, and lower handling costs for customers comparing them with platform-run networks. CBRE said big-box leasing in 2026 should remain selective and concentrated in established logistics hubs. (cbre.com) The near-term test is whether 3PLs can keep turning trade volatility into lease demand while matching the speed and price pressure coming from automated networks. For now, the lease data says customers are still willing to commit for years if the warehouse is in the right place. (cbre.com) (prologis.com)
