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Europe's top five logistics locations may all lie in the Benelux region but central Poland and Istanbul have now moved into the top 10 favoured places that logistics operators want to be, according to research by Prologis and business intelligence firm Eyefortransport (EFT).

France and central Germany have, meanwhile, shown the sharpest dips in popularity, while the Dutch town of Venlo remains Europe's most desired location according to the report, Themes Shaping Location Selection in Europe.

Repeating a survey conducted in 2013, Prologis and EFT polled 'logistics industry participants' in Europe to discover how the factors driving location selection have changed and to determine which are now the most favoured logistics hotspots.

The Benelux and western Germany hold the most favoured locations out of 100 examined throughout Europe and infrastructure and proximity to customers and suppliers were the more frequently cited reasons.

Venlo scored particularly high for land availability, road access, transport cost and for its regulatory environment, according to the report.

Central Europe's ascent 'often boils down to balancing low cost and distance from customers', says the report. CEE dominates the ranking in terms of labour and property costs but lags in terms of infrastructure and proximity to customers and suppliers, although central Poland scored more highly among CEE locations.

As distribution networks become more pan-European, CEE will become a more favourable region from which to operate owing to lower operating costs for labour and property and because of the emergence of its middle class. More infrastructure improvement will further improve the region's popularity, the report says.

The 216 respondents' top location criteria held few surprises and changes have only been subtle, the report says. Users favour locations that are close to economic networks; they want their transport and real estate costs to be low; and they want skilled labour to be readily available. Incentives, however, play a relatively small part in their decision making.

Preferences do vary according to which industry logistics facilities are sought. So transport costs are the most important location driver for automobile, high-tech and manufacturing businesses while availability of labour and proximity to customers and suppliers are the most important factors for retail businesses. The regulatory environment is key among the pharma sector's concerns.

Liège in Belgium, Paris and central Germany have lost the most ground. The decline in appetite for expansion in Paris is attributed to less supportive labour and government policies and the city's slower recovery among its European competitors. The popularity of air cargo hubs Frankfurt and Amsterdam-Schipol has dipped owing to the cost and availability of labour in those locations, according to the report.

Looking forward, the availability of qualified staff is likely to remain the chief concern when looking for logistics locations in 2020, the survey found, and respondents said customers are positioning their supply chains to attract staff but also to position themselves for rising levels of global trade and to capitalise on the benefits of outsourcing their logistics.

Structural changes provide the backdrop to shifting preferences and both the need for sustainability, particularly for brand-sensitive customers, and the ubiquity of ecommerce have pushed these issues forward since the previous survey, the report said.

'Logistics corridors and infill locations in Europe's largest metropolitan areas with high trade volumes and consumer demand' are expected to benefit most from logistics' expansion, the report concludes.