Suggested Citation:
Jaller, Miguel and Leticia Pineda (2017) NCST Research Report: Warehousing and Distribution Center Facilities in Southern California: The Use of the Commodity Flow Survey Data to Identify Logistics Sprawl and Freight Generation Patterns. Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis, Research Report UCD-ITS-RR-17-27

This work addresses an important research topic of freight modeling by analyzing the freight patterns, in terms of freight generation and logistics sprawl, of warehouses and distribution centers in Southern California. Specifically, this work analyzes the concentration of Warehouses and Distribution Centers (W&DC) (NAICS 493) in five counties in Southern California between 1998 and 2014; and explores spatial relationships between W&DC and other industry sectors through centrographic and econometric modeling techniques. Furthermore, the authors estimate factors that explain the concentration of W&DC in the area.

The work uses both disaggregate and aggregate approaches considering the nature of the information available. For the aggregate approach, the analyses used aggregate establishment, employment and other socio-economic data for different industries, complemented with transportation related variables. The results: 1) confirm the existence of logistics sprawl, though the analyses indicate that this trend has not continued to increase after 2007; 2) W&DC show a lower spatial correlation compared to other industries; 3) the locations of the weighted geometric center has shifted slightly differently for the W&DC industry and within its sub- industries; 4) concentration levels for some sub-industries are much lower than for the aggregated NAICS 493; and 5) the number of W&DCs could be explained by: the number of establishment in manufacturing and transportation service industries, proximity to highways and intermodal facilities, the number of W&DC and accommodation and food services in neighboring zips, population, the number of adults using public transit, and per capita income.