Renegotiation Without Relocation: €150,000 Less in Annual Warehouse and Fleet Service Costs

Context

The client is a logistics operator managing a network of four leased warehouses across different regions of Poland, serving e-commerce and FMCG companies. Over eight years, the company doubled its scale of operations: the number of locations grew from two to four, and the distribution fleet expanded from around 60 to 120 vehicles. Throughout this period, the warehouse lease agreements and fleet service contracts remained practically unchanged, amended only to reflect the inflation index.

Challenge

Management suspected that the lease and fleet service rates had drifted away from market levels, but had neither the time nor the resources to verify this systematically while simultaneously conducting negotiations with four landlords and two fleet service providers, without disrupting day-to-day operations. The company was also concerned that renegotiation might end in losing convenient warehouse locations or damaging relationships with service providers.

What we found

Grevo's audit covered two areas: comparing the lease rates at each of the four locations against current market offers for facilities of the same class, and a detailed analysis of the fleet service agreements: labor rates, spare parts margins, and discount thresholds. At three of the four locations, the lease rate exceeded market by 15–22%. The volume discounts on fleet service had been set when the fleet numbered 60 vehicles and were never updated despite it doubling: the company was paying as if it still had half its current fleet.

What we proposed

For each location and each service provider, Grevo prepared a separate negotiation package with concrete reference points: the market rate, offers extended to new tenants for the same facility class, and a calculation of the actual fleet volume. The Grevo team led the negotiations with the landlords and service providers on the client's behalf.

Implementation

The renegotiations were split into two stages: first the lease agreements, timed to coincide with the upcoming renewal dates at each location, then the fleet service contracts, renegotiated together with the vehicle volume update. In no case was a warehouse location or service provider changed.

Result

Lease rates fell by an average of 18% at the three locations with the largest deviation from market. In the fleet service agreements, the labor rate dropped by 12%, and the spare parts discount threshold was recalculated against the current vehicle volume. Total annual savings came to approximately €150,000, while retaining every existing location and supplier, with no interruption to the company's client service.