If you pass Vestby on the E6, you will notice the large warehouse buildings for Asko and one of the logistics company Collicare’s buildings. But what you don’t see is that there are almost ten times as many warehouse buildings behind these. – In recent years, one million square meters of storage and logistics have been built here, says Vestby municipality’s mayor Tom Anders Ludvigsen. Tom Anders Ludvigsen is satisfied that the municipality has earned almost one billion from the sale of business land. Photo: Lars Håkon Pedersen / news The municipality has had a clear goal of attracting this type of business, and has made arrangements for construction to proceed quickly. It has produced results and good money in the municipal coffers. – We have collected nearly NOK one billion from the sale of commercial properties, and are collecting NOK 60 million in property tax this year. It has given us money to build schools, kindergartens and care for the elderly, he states. The oldest school in the village is only fifteen years old. These are just some of the many large warehouse buildings that have been set up in Vestby in recent years. And more are under construction. Photo: Christian Nygaard-Monsen / news Well located It is no coincidence that this particular region is interesting for storage and logistics. The motorway runs through the municipality from Oslo to the Swedish border at Svinesund, it’s a short drive to Moss harbor and the ferries across the fjord and it’s quick to the Oslofjord tunnel. Goods that enter the country and are to be stored here, perhaps for resale online, do not have to be driven all the way to Oslo. Vestby municipality is close to both the Oslofjord, the capital and the border. That makes this region well suited for this type of business, says business policy director at NHO logistics and transport Ole A. Hagen. – Vestby and Moss are geographically advantageous in relation to the markets and to Oslo, he emphasizes. This has meant that many of the major logistics players have invested in the same area, and benefit from the infrastructure that has been built here. Online shopping leads to increased storage needs Ikea is among those building a new, large warehouse in Vestby, which will be completed in 2025. They need a place to take care of customers who do not want to visit their warehouses. Logistics manager at IKEA, Tommy Juntti, states that Vestby is a good place to store goods for the Norwegian market. Photo: Lars Håkon Pedersen / news – We see an increased share of online shopping and the customers also want us to pick and deliver the goods. This warehouse will be used for this, says Tommy Juntti, logistics manager at Ikea. And the fact that more and more of us are sitting at home on the sofa and buying more goods creates a greater need for stock. Several of the largest warehouses built in Vestby contain goods waiting to be ordered online. Ruben Krantz Kringstad in the development company Nrep Logicenters builds warehouses and rents them out to other businesses. Photo: Lars Håkon Pedersen / news – A product that is bought online needs three to four times as much storage space as a product that is sold in a shop, says Ruben Krantz Kringstad at developer Nrep Logicenters. He explains this by saying that there must be more goods in stock than in a physical store, that there must be storage space for returned goods, and that customers now expect the goods to be delivered quickly. After the pandemic, it is also increasingly the case that the goods are stored in Norway, instead of being ordered and shipped from the country where they are produced. – The pandemic increased online shopping, but it also showed that it could be difficult to get goods delivered worldwide, says Kringstad. Ikea is setting up a large warehouse to better serve online customers. They chose Vestby as the most suitable location for such a warehouse. Photo: Lars Håkon Pedersen / news Easy to shop online But all online shopping not only creates an increased need for stock, it can also stimulate more shopping. That worries research leader Torvald Tangeland at SIFO, the Norwegian Institute for Consumer Research at Oslo Met. – Mobile is the world’s biggest store. The question is how we shop online. If we order more items with free returns, and send some of them back, it creates more transport and more need for storage. Torvald Tangeland is a consumption researcher and a little worried that the increased online shopping is not particularly sustainable. Photo: Eivind Rohne / images@beyondthei / Photo Eivind Røhne / Photo Eivin He also points out that some of the goods that are sent back are thrown away instead of being sold again. It is not sustainable. – If we are to solve the climate and environmental problems, consumption must decrease. Then we have to buy fewer things. Online shopping stimulates more consumption, and that is problematic. Tangeland nevertheless predicts that online shopping will only increase in the time to come, because it makes shopping so easy, with access to a large selection from the sofa at home.
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Vestby municipality has made a lot of money from warehouse construction – news Oslo og Viken – Local news, TV and radio
