Logistics parks include warehouse space and services, transportation and efficient distribution services. Large-scale logistics parks are set up by organizations that in turn contain warehouses operated by several different warehouse operators and provide a variety of services to thousands of customers.
It is important to note that in order to find suitable locations for setting up logistics parks, the connection and accessibility of candidate locations for construction with railways and roads should be examined.
History
In the 1970s, logistics centers called logistics hubs were noticed in different countries of the world. At that time, the concept of outsourcing logistics activities to specialized companies had just been proposed. In the modern era, procurement and business support systems are trying to reduce costs and improve their service processes. The improvement of these processes reduces the traffic time of trucks and vehicles, reduces the damage to the goods, reduces the storage time of the goods, makes better use of space, and distributes to the consumer markets as quickly as possible. Logistics Park is actually a specific area where different operators and users are responsible for all activities related to transportation, procurement and distribution of goods. In other words, a park or other logistics center is an area that has facilities for carrying and distributing goods and other support services, except for economic activities.
Logistics parks are built in line with the policies of providing favorable commercial facilities and with the aim of providing high quality and efficient logistics services. These places bring together different parts of the logistics industry such as truck parks, transport companies, container warehouses, logistics departments, technology centers and distribution processes in one place. Each of these sections is very important in the transportation network.
Logistics City
The most advanced and highest functional level are logistics centers. The field of activity of Logistics City is often on an international scale (exports, imports, transit and re-exports) and they act as the main gateway for the entry and exit of goods in the country. Logistics cities are generally built in free zones or special economic zones and require huge infrastructures such as airports and ports.
The logistics village has a high capacity and performance level, an international scope and range (exports, imports, transit) and a dry port and access to rail and road lines. Their main activity is in the direction of composition, distribution, unloading, loading, storage, value-added services, legal inspections of the movement of goods and carrying out customs procedures and controls. (The dry port is an enclosed area inside the logistics village, which is used for the combination, distribution, unloading, loading, storage, legal inspections related to the movement and carrying out formalities and customs controls related to international goods) which includes the following:
Public Logistics Park
Logistics centers have a wide scope of activity in the country, which have multimodal terminals and provide a range of logistics services such as distribution, loading, unloading, storage, value-added services, as well as some legal inspections in the field of moving goods to thousands of customers. The public logistics park provides logistics services (combination, distribution, unloading, loading, storage, legal inspections related to the movement of goods and value-added services) to various types of commodity groups.
Specialized logistics park
This group of logistics centers is usually formed due to the demand for logistics services from a certain group of industries located in a geographical area and for a specific product group. The recognition required to create this category of logistics and investment centers is done directly by the private sector. The definition of specialized logistics parks is; The logistics center focuses on the activities of a specific product group in the field of distribution, unloading, loading, storage and other specialized value-added services of the product group.
Border logistics center
Border logistics centers are logistics centers located in the border area and provide logistics facilities and services needed for export, import and transit. Customs, Border guard, National Standard Organization, Plant Protection Organization and in general all related organizations provide their services centrally and integrated in this center.
What is the process of preparing the park logistics plan?
First step: Feasibility plan and economic justification of logistics park: In the first step, the feasibility plan and economic justification is prepared. At this stage, these studies are prepared by assessing the needs and carefully examining the economic conditions of the country and the region, as well as the financial conditions of the investor, as well as the economic potential of the region. In this part of the studies, the needs of the region, as well as the required areas of each sector and the methods of financing and how to return the investment are examined in detail.
Second stage: Logistics Park preparation plan: After the approval of the plan in the relevant commissions in the next step, the preparation plan of the logistics park land will be prepared. In this section, infrastructures design (power transmission network and water network, sewage, etc.) is designed along with the road network.
The third stage: designing the buildings and facilities of the logistics park: in the final step, after the finalization of the preparation plan, the architectural plan is prepared. In this step, which has two stages (the first stage and the second stage), detailed plans of warehouses, hangars, silos, cold stores, liquid storage tanks, workshops and service buildings are designed.
Considering the importance of logistics parks in the field of transportation, there are several examples in Iran as well, two examples are mentioned below.
Chabahar Free Zone
Chabahar Free Zone, due to the mission that the government has set for it, is one of the country’s highly important logistics areas, which, in addition to carrying out port transit activities, has industrial complexes, production, storage, warehouse, customs, clearance and distribution. With the studies and investigations carried out, considering the ability to supply the amount of basic goods imported into Chabahar Free Zone and its transit to other parts of the country, as well as the space required for warehouses and logistics for raw materials and manufactured products of the seventh figure, the justification of the project was carefully examined.
According to the needs of the region, the physical plan of the project was also fully completed. In terms of physical program, this area includes a collection of warehouses, cold storage and hangars, parking, container terminals, loading and equipment.
Anzali Free Zone Logistics Park
The operation of the Caspian port complex as the largest port in the north of the country and a port with the functions of the world’s third generation ports, placing the most active port of Iran in the Caspian Sea, Anzali port, within the limits of this region, and Sardar Jangal International Airport, 15 kilometers away, are the most important advantages in this area to create a logistics park. Increasing the efficiency of the transportation system, especially with an emphasis on cargo transportation and logistics, playing a prominent role of Anzali Free Zone in transit and international trade, reducing harmful environmental effects, and creating green transportation are among the goals of building this center. At the same time, smartening and improving the share of rail in the flow of freight in the country, along with reforming the financing pattern based on reducing reliance on the country’s public budget, are the major parts of the Anzali Free Zone Organization’s strategy to build the first park and logistics center in the north of the country.