Kuehne+Nagel Grows Like Logistics: Between Factories and Consumers

Kuehne+Nagel has increased its industrial footprint in Mexico by nearly one-fifth through two leases that illustrate the two forces currently driving logistics demand in the country: proximity to consumers and integration with manufacturing supply chains.

The company signed agreements to occupy more than 78,000 square meters at T-Mex Park in Nextlalpan, State of Mexico, and another 31,000 square meters at the Alliuz Aeropuerto industrial park in Apodaca, Nuevo León. Both properties are Class A facilities, leased in U.S. dollars under five-year terms, with rents ranging between $7 and $9 per square meter.

Nextlalpan is one of the most logistics-oriented industrial markets in the country. Nearly 39% of its industrial gross leasable area and one-third of its occupants belong to the sector, reflecting its role as a distribution hub for the Mexico City Metropolitan Area. Apodaca, by contrast, stands out for its manufacturing profile, with more than half of its industrial space dedicated to that activity. Over the past six years, however, it added more than 300,000 square meters of logistics space, a 21% increase that made it the largest concentration of such space within the Monterrey market. Today, it accounts for 38% of that market’s total logistics inventory.

The growth of logistics in these regions—and in Mexico more broadly—appears to depend less on the expansion of a particular sector, such as manufacturing, than on its ability to connect different economic activities. In fact, since 2020, the space occupied by transportation and logistics companies has grown by approximately 39%, above the 31% recorded by the industrial market as a whole. Over the same period, its share of occupied industrial space increased from 11% to 12%, while many of the country’s main productive sectors maintained relatively stable market shares.

The growing importance of logistics is also reflected in the scale of its leading operators, whose presence is increasingly extending across regions, industries and supply chains.

Within that context, Kuehne+Nagel’s expansion can hardly be understood as an isolated case. As of the end of the first quarter of this year, the company occupied roughly 400,000 square meters of industrial space in Mexico. About 55% of that area is located in the Greater Mexico City region, 31% in the Bajío and the remainder in northern Mexico.

In terms of occupied space, the company is the fourth-largest tenant in Mexico’s transportation and logistics sector, behind DHL, Ryder System and DSV Global. Together, these four companies occupy nearly one out of every seven square meters used by the sector nationwide.

The weight of these players, however, reflects more than just the growth of the logistics sector. Their scale is making them an increasingly important component of the country’s economic infrastructure.

For more details on these transactions and access to exclusive market metrics, visit SiiLA Market Analytics or contact us at contacto@siila.com.mx.