The Inland Empire's industrial market is beginning to scramble.

The trend of big-box industrial users locating on the east end of the Inland Empire is apparently changing, and more space inside large industrial buildings is being subleased because tenants don't need as much space as they once did, according to Inland industrial brokers.

Faced with painful fuel prices, more users are setting up shop on the west end - specifically in or near Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga - so they can shorten the drive from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and cut down on transportation costs, according to several Inland industrial brokers.

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A recently finished and available 680,952-square-foot distribution facility in Ontario.

"More and more the price of fuel is becoming a major issue for everyone," said Chuck Belden, executive director for Cushman-Wakefield Inc. Ontario. "It accelerated during the first quarter when prices started to get high, and it's become more obvious as fuel costs have gone through the roof."

Whether to locate on the east side - Redlands, Perris and Moreno Valley - or on the west end has always been a dilemma for companies looking to set up logistical operations here, said Paul Earnhart, principal and senior vice president with Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. Ontario.

But with diesel fuel prices in California averaging about $5 a gallon, the east end vs. west end issue has taken on urgency.

"They logistics companies are paying higher fuel bills so they're starting to pay attention,' said Earnhart, a broker for 27 years and a specialist in warehouse-distribution projects.

"I talk to people all the time who want to get closer to the harbors."

Fuel costs are getting so high that more out-of-state logistics firms are asking about space in the Inland region.

"I'm hearing that all of the time," Earnhart said. "Riverside is the west end if you're in Phoenix."

The issue has usually been about whether to pay higher lease rates on the west end - generally six to eight cents more a square foot, according to Earnhart - and cut fuel costs by being closer to the ports, or pay more for transportation but pay a lower lease on the east end.

As the Ontario/Rancho Cucamonga market filled up, that choice became easy, particularly for users looking for 250,000 square feet or more. Redlands, Perris and Moreno Valley gradually became popular sites for large industrial projects.

But the cost of fuel and new fees at the ports are reversing that trend. It costs $325 to ship one container from Long Beach to the Ontario-Rancho Cucamonga market, and about $390 to get it to a distribution facility in the Redlands-Perris-Moreno Valley area, Earnhart said.

The good news is that there is still space in the Ontario-Rancho Cucamonga market: about 58 industrial buildings there have at least 100,000 square feet of available space in them, according to Earnhart.

"If you're looking for up to 250,000 square feet you still have a lot of options," Earnhart said. "The industrial base in the entire market is still strong."

But landlords on the west side might have the upper hand in attracting tenants, at least for a while.

"If you're an industrial landlord on the east end, you're going to have to give away more concessions, probably in the form of rent abatement, if you're going to attract tenants," Belden said. "I don't know how long this is going to last, because we're still only in the third inning of this thing, and it's not just the Inland Empire. A lot of what happens is predicated on the national economy."

Locating near the ports isn't always easy to do, said Jack Kyser, chief economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

"People always want to get closer to the ports, but then they run into the problem of how much space is available," Kyser said. "It's a very tough issue. Fuel costs are always going to be a huge factor in international trade."

No matter how the fuel issue is resolved, the Inland region will continue to attract more than its share of large warehouse-distribution projects, Earnhart said.

"Logistical businesses are still going to go where they can save money," Earnhart said. "We're still going to be the place."

Though probably not as significant as the east-to-west migration, large industrial tenants subleasing space in large buildings is starting to become more common, Belden said.

With fewer goods coming from the ports, warehouse-distribution sites are finding they have extra space on their hands.

"We're starting to see it on the west side," Belden said. "A lot of subleasing is happening there. People say, 'We don't need that much space' and so the space gets subleased out."

The overall state of the market has some brokers hanging their heads.

"There's a lot of gallows humor out there," Belden said. "Things like, 'if this lasts another three or four years I'll be selling shoes at the mall."