Reply With QuoteLOL I thought they wanted to build a canal.
How would this be different than already existing systems? Don't trains normally carry freight between Dallas and Houston anyway?
Oh well, pomp and circumstance, let's give it a name and a logo.
Dallas' maritime future?
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont....5904a915.html
Task force sought to establish land port for goods from gulf
11:24 PM CDT on Thursday, April 28, 2005
By BRENDAN M. CASE / The Dallas Morning News
It's a long way from North Texas to saltwater, but that's not stopping civic leaders from envisioning a Port of Dallas.
Local leaders and officials from Houston and the U.S. Maritime Administration expect to announce a task force today to study the creation of an inland port in Dallas, a project they say would strengthen the area's role as a transportation hub.
JUST WHAT ARE INLAND PORTS?
Inland ports are shipping, receiving and distribution centers designed to relieve the congestion in increasingly busy seaports.
Handling cargo containers at spacious inland facilities can cut the time freighters spend in port and speed the flow of goods between ships and the land transportation system of trucks and trains.
The idea is to move the time-consuming sorting of containers inland, away from congested seaports. When a ship is delayed in port, it's not making money.
An inland port could also speed the flow of cargo between ships and North Texas' land transportation networks, which would carry goods to the rest of the country.
"The concept of an agile system is that you increase the velocity of the cargo moving through the system," said Richard Walker, the U.S. Maritime Administration's intermodal development director.
Connected with the Gulf Coast by rail, the Dallas Agile Port System would function as a shipping, receiving and distribution center for outbound cargo containers going to ports such as Houston, and for inbound freight traveling the other direction.
The Dallas-Fort Worth region already is a major distribution center, home to a vast network of railroad lines, highways and air-cargo facilities. Several intermodal facilities, notably Alliance Airport, are also located in the area.
Better transportation links could entice new companies to move to North Texas, creating jobs.
"It will act as a magnet for businesses," said Dallas City Council member Sandy Greyson.
In Northern Virginia, for example, the 16-year-old Virginia Inland Port has attracted numerous warehouses from large companies and other business activity.
"What we didn't realize at the inception was what a catalyst for economic development this transportation infrastructure could be," said Greg Edwards, the managing director of marketing and intermodal at the Virginia Port Authority.
Dallas' agile port system task force will be announced at a City Hall ceremony attended by representatives from the city of Dallas, Dallas County, Harris County, the Port of Houston Authority and the Mexican Port of Manzanillo, which is developing trans-Pacific service for U.S. customers.
Mr. Walker will represent the Maritime Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The task force will study how much money would need to be invested and what facilities would need to be built, among other issues.
The port project is part of the Dallas NAFTA Trade Corridor project, which is named for the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"There's a need to find new multimodal centers in the middle of our country," said David Dean, chief executive of Dean International Inc., a consulting firm retained by the city to help develop transportation projects. "We become very significant geographically."
E-mail bcase@dallasnews.com
LOL I thought they wanted to build a canal.
How would this be different than already existing systems? Don't trains normally carry freight between Dallas and Houston anyway?
Oh well, pomp and circumstance, let's give it a name and a logo.
[ xvisionx.com 13 - my photo gallery + journal ] - be sure to check out my new interactive downtown dallas picture map.
??? What am I missing?
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
Yeah, like this will EVER happen.
By the power of greyskull!
We already have an inland port. It is called DFW International Airport. It was designed and built to be an inland port.
That's awfully expensive proposition, and probably for little economic impact. Georgia has several inland ports but they aren't THAT far from the coastal areas such as the Florida Gulf Coast or Brunswick along the Atlantic. The Flint and Chattahoochee rivers offer good passage ways for inland vessels to transport goods, but they more or less transport them to places like Columbus or Albany, where they are then distributed throughout the rest of the state via rail and rig (trucks) transport.
Never say never, though. What you're basically saying is that you are going to invest several hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars widening and deepening the Trinity River from near Baytown to Dallas.
Celebrating the urban greatness of Texas: Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, El Paso and Fort Worth.
It's all about cost, efficiency and available space. The Dallas Agile Port System is a fancy way to say they dont have enough room around the Port of Houston to affordablly sort all the cargo comming off the ships. Additionally, the DFW area is unquestionablly a better distribution point for sorted cargo.Originally Posted by noelamador
I'm not certain, but my impression is that warehouse/sorting space avaibility conveniently near the Port of Houston is being squeezed out by higher profitability and overriding locational safety needs for facilities which process petro-chemical and hazardous materials. The diversified volume of deliverables through Houston is growing dramatically and expected to continue for decades. So, more cargo sorting warehouse space is needed (as opposed to cargo processing). A train will end up carrying the unsorted cargo containers away from the Port area anyway, and the additional cost to carry the cargo containers on a train 230 miles to Dallas versus 15 or 20 miles to Humble is insignificant compared to the distribution savings provided by DFW's location and superior Interstate access.
This is the precise economic cooperative which needs to begin developing between the state's two primary job centers and will bring more world economy decision makers to Dallas and Houston.
Crains would take the cargo containers off the boat, put them on a train, the containers would travel to new and specialized facilities in Dallas, and the cargo would be taken out of the containers, sorted and put on trucks for final delivery - and vice versa.
It's an excellent idea; one that floats around GA occasionally - to establish a cargo container train route from Savanah to Atlanta - but there is still plenty of room in and around Savanah.
Cultural diversity always follows consumer product trading, and the "Dallas Agile Port System" will enable the Metroplex to become a more agreeable destination among a greater variety of immigrant populations. The sequential larger populations of foreign ex-patriots becoming American citizens will benefit the area through more numerous variety of cultures reaching the minimum population level at which cultural identity is sustainable. The strain on the Houston area residents to accommodate the immigrant population will be eased by the existance of self-sufficient micro-cultures in both metro areas. The acclimation process would be much more painless when the cultural family extends across two cities which are extremely connected to each other.
It's a great day in Texas when the two big shots work together.
Last edited by tamtagon; 29 April 2005 at 11:20 AM.
Cargo won't be going to/leaving from Dallas by water. This is basically a port agility system concept which utilizes marine terminals, intermodal terminals, and freight corridors.
Nothing to do with the Trinity River in Dallas' case.
Repeat, this is not going to have anything to do with the River.
I won't be surprised if it's done.
The Chinese have done this in 509 A.D.
The longest man-made canal in the world is the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
"The earliest and longest man-made canal in the world is the
Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The canal was first built in the 5th
century BC and was substantially extended twice during the Sui and
Yuan dynasties. The canal begins at Tongxian County in Beijing in the
north and ends in Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province in the south and has a
length of 1,794 kilometers and a drainage area of 4,583 square meters,
with 24 locks and some 60 bridges."
Hey i think i understand this so all the sorting of the cargo would happen in Dallas rather than in Houston. so ships come into port unload their cargo onto trains trainshport to Big D and here they will sort and move all the stuff out. So long story short, unload in Houston sort and pack in Dallas. Makes sense. To help revive south Dallas could look at building an Intermodal transport center aka Alliance Airport Redux! with space for train hubs and access to freeways along with airstrip for cargo! This is what I am understanding so now Port Dallas in the conventional water way.
That's probably what the folks in Dallas thought when they built those locks and dams on the Trinity in the early 1900's. You can still see the ruins of these projects on aerial photos: here's a Google Maps link that shows the remains of the L&D just north of present-day I-20.
The project proved impossible to accomplish, and the idea was finally killed in the '70s -- more knowledgeable folks will surely provide linkies to more details, but a good overview is available at the Handbook of Texas Online. As for any modern revival of the idea, forget it -- the environmental damage alone should be enough to put the kibosh on the project, and the commercial disruption and property aquisition issues drive a stake in its heart.
Thanks, CTroy, for supplying the essential information that they aren't even talking about the river. I didn't pick that up in skimming the article (read? what's that?). This looks like a big deal for the southern sector -- you didn't think they were planning to run the trains through DTD and build the yard in Plano, did you?
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
Wouldn't the new train thingie in Hutchins be a possible destination for this? Of course it would need expansion.
Yes it would be. This could be a big deal for south Dallas. Have you seen the construction site for this new rail yard? It is huge, I drove by it last week on my way back from Houston. It could certainly serve as a staging ground for inbound freight from Houston.
I have no idea why this is not part of the Trans-Texas Corridor 185 Billion Dollar Plan. The only reason I can come up with is that political leaders and Port of Houston Leaders will not share credit and/or profit.
The future UP rail/intermodal terminal? And supposedly it huge, so I don't know about expansion.
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
More likely, I'd think, is that they want to be a "player" in the TTC. If they already have an organization and a plan, they can go to TxDOT with more clout than they could as representatives of various, unrelated government entities. Shrewd move, I'd say... and the more rail players in the mix, the better it is for the passenger rail component of the plan.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
I'm intrigued by the concept to set up a cargo train route between Dallas and the Pacific Ocean.Dallas' agile port system task force will be announced at a City Hall ceremony attended by representatives from .... the Mexican Port of Manzanillo, which is developing trans-Pacific service for U.S. customers.
http://www.mitpan.com/eng/default.html
http://www.internationalreports.net/...nzanillos.html
Manzanillo is the only port in Mexico capable of double-stacking containers onto railcars, providing efficient movement of cargo by a private railroad company, Ferromex, throughout Mexico and as far as the Texas border 1,000 miles away.
Last edited by tamtagon; 02 May 2005 at 01:26 AM.
Another DMN article with more detail on the Dallas - Op connection:
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/bus/....2aabb8c9.html
Mexico Could Be Key Link in Getting Asian Goods to Texas
2005-04-20
The Dallas Morning News
Apr. 20--MEXICO CITY -- As U.S.-Asia trade soars, Mexico is building a land bridge between the Pacific Ocean and American shoppers.
Mexico's customs service recently slashed the cost of landing Asian cargo and forwarding it to the United States, opening a new route for imports that typically arrive in California and ride the rails to the rest of the country.
As a result, containers of Asian-made toys, textiles and electronics could soon be speeding from ports such as Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas to U.S. cities.
Proponents say the new route will cut transportation costs and wait times for U.S. customers.
"We want to be Dallas' Pacific port," said Hector Mora, the head of the Port of Manzanillo. "What I'm seeking is for Manzanillo to be not just the Pacific gateway for Mexico, but also for the eastern part of the United States."
The opportunity for the Mexican ports comes as U.S. consumers continue to buy more Asian goods, straining U.S. ports and railroads and slowing the flow of merchandise to retailers, importers say.
The sprawling Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, in particular, are already handling record levels of traffic, and they have only limited room to expand.
That's led smaller ports along North America's Pacific shore to compete for overflow traffic. Anchorage, Alaska; Seattle-Tacoma, Wash.; Oakland, Calif.; and Vancouver, B.C., are all vying for a bigger piece of the multibillion-dollar business.
Los Angeles and Long Beach handle more goods than all other U.S. West Coast ports combined. They also compete with the Panama Canal to handle cargo bound for the eastern United States.
Mexico aims to develop a southern route.
As the crow flies, Manzanillo is as close to Dallas as Los Angeles is, but relatively small Mexican ports can't do much more than nip at the heels of the giant facilities in Southern California.
In the 1990s, Mexico sold its ports and railroads to private owners, who boosted investment and quality. But despite recent improvements, Mexico's rail network has historically been subpar. It's unclear whether shippers would want to rely on Mexico, given its myriad security problems.
"Mexico would have to make major investments over many years to build enough capacity to make much of a dent," said Art Wong, a spokesman for the Port of Long Beach. "Long term, it makes sense for the other West Coast ports to expand. But it will take many years for them to take much cargo from us."
Still, with China becoming the world's factory, Mexico's plans have the attention of U.S. importers.
David Walker, the executive vice president of logistics and allocations at Fort Worth-based Pier 1 Imports Inc., routes some Asian imports through Southern California.
Mr. Walker said he would consider landing goods south of the border, then moving them by rail to the company's six regional distribution centers, including one in Mansfield.
"The concept is interesting to me," he said. "The whole world is sourcing in China, whether you're buying rattan and wicker, as our company is, or parts for automobiles. The volumes are going to continue going up and up."
The need for alternatives became obvious in 2002, when a labor dispute crippled West Coast ports and left scores of ships idling in the Pacific.
Since then, U.S.-Asia trade has swelled. Although ships can often dock quickly at Los Angeles and Long Beach, heavy traffic last fall was blamed for causing delivery delays.
Until recently, Mexico wasn't a viable alternative. To move goods from Mexican ports to the U.S. border, shippers had to deposit a bond of tens of thousands of dollars per container until the merchandise left the country.
Now, due to a recent change in customs regulations, shippers can move as many containers as they want for a single bond of about $55,000.
The new rules apply only to certain routes, including from Manzanillo to Ciudad Juarez and from Lazaro Cardenas to Nuevo Laredo.
The rules also only apply to freight moving by rail, although they could eventually be extended to truck traffic.
Depending on future cost and performance, Mexican Customs official Enrique Gonzalez reckons, the new routes could generate a 15 percent cost savings for shippers, compared with Southern California, and draw a volume of 1 million containers.
Other plans to move Asian goods from Mexico to the United States are also afoot, from a possible port at Punta Colonet, Baja California, to a project to build modern rail links across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Leading the charge to develop the Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas trade routes are Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings, a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. that operates both Mexican ports; U.S. and Mexican railroads; and business and civic leaders in Kansas City, Mo.
Manzanillo port officials have signed cooperation deals with the Ports of Houston and Shanghai. They're also working with railroad company Ferrocarril Mexicano SA, which has tracks from Manzanillo to Ciudad Juarez.
Lazaro Cardenas is already receiving ships from CP Ships Ltd., APL Ltd., and Maersk, including some that arrive directly from Asia.
Port officials are investing $200 million to build Mexico's largest container terminal, with a capacity of 2 million TEUs, or twenty-foot equivalent units, a standard yardstick in the shipping business.
That's just a drop in the bucket of the combined 13.1 million TEUs that Los Angeles and Long Beach handled last year, but it would be more than twice the freight moved in 2004 by Manzanillo, Mexico's largest Pacific container port.
Railroad TFM SA, which has lines that go into the Port of Lazaro Cardenas, was recently acquired by Kansas City Southern.
The U.S. railroad aims to be a backbone of the new trade route linking the Mexican Pacific to the U.S. heartland -- a key competitive advantage for the Port of Lazaro Cardenas.
"We're going to be able to offer direct rail service all the way to the East Coast of the United States," said Hector Carranza, a Lazaro Cardenas marketing official.
Spotlighting the new route this spring, Kansas City will import several dragon boats from its sister city in China, transporting them from Mexico to Missouri.
And David Burdick, the president of Kansas City-based Priority Logistics Inc., is preparing to transport goods from Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas to clients throughout the United States.
"I understand why we moved a lot of manufacturing production offshore," Mr. Burdick said. "But did we anticipate the cost of transporting it and the cost of it sitting in the ocean? We need to find ways to move the goods competitively, just like manufacturers have to be competitive."
-----
Wow, the Port of Manzanillo has been really busy:
http://www.bedc.com/about/news/newsD...p?news_id=1047
BROWNSVILLE — Port officials here say an agreement signed with Mexico's Port of Manzanillo-Glipsa last week will christen a trade route that could bypass the Panama Canal and give Texas a chunk of the $300 billion-a-year West Coast port industry.
Southern Dallas hopes to snag inland port
Port of Houston Authority project would be catalyst for development, officials say
Margaret Allen
Staff Writer
http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/st...09/story6.html
Southern Dallas County will begin to see its biggest-ever economic shot in the arm later this year if the Port of Houston Authority and local governments succeed in designating an official "inland port" here.
The freight facility would be the Port of Houston's first inland port -- essentially an extension of the port lying farther inland. At such a facility, ocean containers loaded with freight can be picked up, dropped off, documented and received, just as if they were arriving or departing the ocean port in Houston. The freight would move to and from Houston by rail.
City of Dallas officials predict an inland port would attract billions of dollars in additional rail, truck and air freight to North Texas. It also would be a catalyst for construction of new distribution centers, warehouses and company offices for those who ship, receive and handle cargo.
The city has targeted the intersection of U.S. interstates 20 and 45 -- which is largely undeveloped -- for all the real estate development expected to arise from the port. The inland port is part of a larger city project, the Dallas Nafta Trade Corridor Project, named for the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Establishing task forces
Details are scarce, explained Fort Worth-based Dick Schiefelbein, railroad coordinator for the Port of Houston Authority. "It's the first time it's ever been done here," Schiefelbein said. "But there are a lot of ways to skin the cat."
The city of Dallas is working now with the Port of Houston and cities in southern Dallas County to establish several task-force groups.
Each one will address a different aspect of the port-driven project. Among them: who would own and operate the facility; cost and funding; location of the port; harmonizing property tax structures across the taxing entities in southern Dallas County for companies that locate operations there to use the port; creating a Foreign Trade Zone around the port; establishing a rail intermodal route between Dallas and Houston; and deciding where in the southern region to build a cargo airport.
Each task force will include members from Cedar Hill, Lancaster, DeSoto, Hutchins, Wilmer and other southern Dallas County suburbs, as well as the Port of Houston, according to Sandy Greyson and Bill Blaydes, members of the Dallas City Council and co-chairs of the Nafta corridor project. "We're not having the cities within our region tugging and competing with one another," Greyson said. "This will benefit all of us."
An inland port facility would likely include office space, a terminal building and a rail intermodal yard for staging and loading hundreds of 20-foot ocean containers moving in and out on their way to Houston, elsewhere in the nation, Mexico or Canada. New supersized ships can carry more than 8,000 containers each, filling 20 trains a mile long with double-stacked containers.
With Dallas 240 miles north of Houston up Interstate 45, a Dallas County inland port would be the first in the nation located so far from its coastal host. The U.S. Maritime Administration has said it hopes to make the Dallas County inland port a model for the rest of the nation.
Perfect match
In October, city of Dallas officials approached the Port of Houston with the idea, which appealed to port authorities, Schiefelbein said. Container traffic is growing by double digits at the Port of Houston, the world's sixth-largest port, he said. An inland port would continue to ensure speedy delivery of containers to market.
Over the next 10 years, container traffic in the Gulf of Mexico will grow as much as 23%, said Jim Edmonds, chairman of the Port of Houston Authority. Houston handles 64% of container movements in the gulf and 94% in Texas. An inland port would free up docks to accommodate the increased freight, Edmonds said.
Southern Dallas County already has the needed infrastructure, say Greyson and Blaydes. It's home to the so-called North American Free Trade Corridor -- Interstate 35. And federal lawmakers are expected this summer to designate Interstate 20 through there as a "Congressional High-Priority Corridor" from I-35 in Dallas County east via Interstate 635 and north to Interstate 30, continuing on through Little Rock, Ark., and Memphis, Tenn., via Interstate 40. The designation makes the corridor eligible for federal highway money.
At the same time, Union Pacific Railroad has two major intermodal yards in southern Dallas County, one in Mesquite -- the third largest in its system -- and one set to open in Wilmer-Hutchins this summer.
mallen@bizjournals.com
Thanks for posting this noelamador!! This inland port could end up as the biggest thing in the Metroplex. I'm especially excited at the potential of this 'agile' port to combine cargo processing of goods coming/going from the Gulf (Houston), the Pacific (Manzillo) and Mexico (Laredo).
I hope a powerful politician in Tarrant County doesnt decide a Dallas County Cargo airport would economically devistate DFW & Alliance Airports. Executive Airport (aka Redbird) should get a passenger boost from a cargo airport just down the road.
One thing's for sure, if this happens, there's going to be a whole lot more trucks in the I-20/I-45 area. The Trans Texas Corridor's initial Laredo - Dallas route must be syncronized with this inland port - that's manditory.
I wonder how Homeland Security would affect these projects, especially the Mexico-Dallas routes.
Me, too. One of the RR companies involved in the Mexican port deal is based in Kansas City, and I would imagine there are intentions to ship cargo for processing to Missouri, too.
This inland port could end up as the biggest thing in the Metroplex
agreed, though I think most don't know it yet.
^Yep.
With Union Pacific and Fedex facilities opening on I-45 in a few months...southern Dallas county is a natural selection. What a boom this will bring. Dallas better consider a new airport to make the facility multi-modal.
Oh, the DFW officials wouldn't like that.
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
South Dallas' own Alliance. There's plenty of land out there.
Yes you are right, additional competition is always bad.
From what I heard in the presentation last week from the developers that is the concept.
Geographically, it'll be diametrically opposite of Alliance Airport. Therefore, it should be named Dissension Field. That'll fit in nicely with DFW's opinion of the project.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
Why do you think that? Based on the presentation last week I would say the concept will be well received.
Who would own and operate this thing?
It seems this can only be a boost for both areas. Througput can increase in the port of houston proper, causing growth there also. The damn thing is allready a humongous entity, and there is a large expansion allready in the works. I live within 4 miles of it, and its sheer size always amazes me: it just seems to go on for ever, taken from the view on top of the 610 ship channel bridge.
The idea sounds good to me. Growth is good.
One more thing. If this thing is really needed, then it's gonna happen anyways. If we dont do it, some other state will.
I'm sorry, the name of this thread was way too misleading. New name in use, unless someone can think of a better / more logical one.
[ xvisionx.com 13 - my photo gallery + journal ] - be sure to check out my new interactive downtown dallas picture map.
It makes sense to me and describes the facility perfectly. But maybe we can do something like "Port of Dallas".
Based on the way it is discussed I would assume it could be owned by the Houston Port Aurhority ulesss Dallas creates it's own authority and contracts with the Houston authority. Since the containers will be shipped directly into the Dallas facility for unloading the Port Authority would still have to deal with Homeland Security and Customs issues. They would just be transferred up here. The upside potential for this is a win-win for Houston and Dallas since it would increase Houston's capacity and Dallas is only limited by the amount of land we have and we could "in theory" establish more than one inland port to help out our friends in Houston.
I think this is a great deal and will force the two cities to work together.
High-and-Dry Areas Vie for 'Inland Ports'
On the Southland's periphery, the scramble is on to create complexes that will help ease the crunch at the L.A.-Long Beach waterfront.
By Ronald D. White
Times Staff Writer
May 8, 2005
The San Joaquin Valley grasslands, miles from the ocean or any navigable river, might seem an odd place to put a port.
But there, along Interstate 5 just north of the Grapevine, sits the Tejon Industrial Complex. Resembling a gargantuan freeway rest stop, the sprawling warehouse park calls itself an "inland port" and is one of several ambitious efforts throughout Southern California to relieve chronic congestion at the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors.
The high desert towns of Victorville, Palmdale and Lancaster are among those similarly trying to position themselves to grab some of the region's growing cargo business and bring in steady jobs.
Right now, inland ports are little more than a regional planning concept in which cargo-processing complexes would hug freeways, rail lines and airports instead of waterways.
Such operations would differ from warehouse complexes or industrial parks because of the transportation and shipping services offered to tenants, such as a dedicated rail line or luxe trucker amenities.
Although most of the freight would still flow through the Southern California seaports, recurring logjams would be eased by swiftly moving cargo containers from crowded harbor terminals where the boxes commonly sit for days, proponents say.
Inland communities are attempting to profit from a confluence of shipping trends: The busy ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have little room to expand; international trade continues to build; the Inland Empire, the destination of choice for warehouses and distribution centers, is becoming increasingly crowded and expensive.
"Five or 10 years ago, there would have been no reason to come up here," said Barry Hibbard, vice president of commercial and industrial marketing for Tejon Ranch, the 162-year-old working ranch in southern Kern and northern Los Angeles counties that is developing a small portion of its 270,000 acres for industry, homes and recreation. "But the advantage we have here now is that the cost of our dirt is not as hard on the tenants. We can offer more storage space and there are no residential neighbors around to complain."
But shipping lines and retailers, among others, are skeptical about the concept, wondering whether it would ease congestion or merely add another step.
"We understand the urgent need to find ways to accommodate the anticipated growth of cargo, and inland ports could well be part of that solution," said Tupper Hull, spokesman for the Pacific Merchant Shipping Assn., which represents the ocean carriers and terminal operators that move more than 90% of the containerized cargo in the U.S. "But the concern is simply that every time you touch a container, the cost and the price of the goods inside goes up. The goal is to touch them as few times as possible."
It doesn't help that there are no examples in the U.S. big enough to serve as a credible model.
"There is talk and there is smoke but not necessarily much activity that is carried out. Whenever there is another round of military base closings, people get excited about the idea of inland ports," said Peter Hall, a professor at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Canada, who has studied the Southern California ports.
Still, Jon DeCesare of Long Beach-based World Class Logistics Consulting thinks all the talk might be turning into action.
"Inland ports have been talked about for years, but it is becoming more and more important as vessel sizes and trade volumes increase," said DeCesare, whose company has looked at dozens of potential sites for inland ports for clients nationwide. "Southern California is probably where it will happen first because of the volume here."
Many are pinning their hopes on exactly that.
The Southern California Assn. of Governments pointed to the seaport cargo boom as a way for the region to rebound from the loss of high-quality manufacturing jobs over several years.
In a 2004 report titled "Logistics and Distribution: An Answer to Regional Upward Social Mobility," the association outlined an ambitious proposal for creating inland ports that includes extending the Alameda Rail Corridor and spending $16.5 billion for two dedicated truck lanes that would reach from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to the Victor Valley in western San Bernardino County.
Salaries in logistics and distribution jobs can range from $17,700 to $69,000, said the report's author, John Husing, a specialist in regional economics and vice president of Economics & Politics Inc. in Redlands.
"These jobs are not just going to pick up and leave like the manufacturing jobs," Husing said. "It's one area of the bluecollar economy that will remain here because of the activity at the ports."
The Tejon Industrial Complex's efforts to lure more cargo-dependent tenants to the 1,450-acre development are eagerly supported by Kern County officials, whose constituents are plagued by high seasonal unemployment because of the county's reliance on the agriculture industry. There have been objections too, most notably from environmentalists who want the bulk of the sprawling Tejon Ranch preserved as open space.
While acknowledging that the site is relatively far from the seaports and lacks rail service, Hibbard said Tejon was becoming more attractive as the Inland Empire has become crowded with warehouses and distribution centers.
"We are going to try to attract everyone in the cargo movement supply chain," Hibbard said.
Situated on the relatively tiny sliver of Tejon Ranch land that straddles the I-5, the complex aims to be a trucker's dream. There are sit-down restaurants and fast-food eateries, a drive-through Starbucks, on-site mechanics, a hotel, laundry services, an arcade, movie theater and even a chiropractor's office.
Its main tenant so far is Swedish home furnishings retailer IKEA, which has nearly 2 million square feet of warehouse space and room outside to keep 250 to 300 cargo containers. From the Tejon distribution center, IKEA supplies stores in California, the Pacific Northwest and part of Canada.
IKEA moved to Tejon in 2001 to solve several problems, said the company's North American president, Keith Keller.
Ensconced in a 400,000-square-foot facility in Ontario, IKEA was adding stores and needed a facility four times as large, Keller said. The company looked throughout the Inland Empire but couldn't find a site that was big enough or fit within the budget, he said.
What's more, IKEA needed to move goods out of the ports more efficiently to a central location to quickly supply its new, far-flung stores, Keller said.
Then, as now, cargo containers arrived at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports and often sat for days, before they were picked up for delivery. Terminals at both ports allow several days of free storage, which exacerbates the chronic congestion there. As the containers pile up, they must be stacked and other containers must be moved to get to the boxes that are finally ready to be delivered.
IKEA wanted to cut through the tie-up by building a warehouse big enough to eliminate the need to use storage at port terminals.
"Time is money, and the situation in Los Angeles and Long Beach is unique," Keller said, given that the ports handle 70% of all container traffic moving through West Coast harbors. "When the goods are coming in, companies need to get access to them as soon as possible. We needed to find a solution, and this has worked out really well for us."
Several other communities, including Lancaster and Palmdale, are considering developing similar complexes.
For its entry into the inland port derby, Victorville has transformed the former George Air Force Base into the Southern California Logistics Airport and plans to build rail spurs from nearby Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks. Local officials tout the area's ample warehouse space, labor force and airport power plant.
In some respects, it is the most versatile of the new inland areas seeking to capitalize on the boom in international trade. The airport has North America's second-longest runway, and it can accommodate even the largest airliners. It is also within a few miles' reach of Interstate 15, a major route for trucking cargo.
Shippers "won't have any nearby residential areas complaining about congestion and noise, and we have a facility we are customizing for air, rail and truck transport," Victorville City Councilman Terry Caldwell said. "We're here to see if we can fit in and ease the transportation bottleneck."
The one side-effect that I am not sure how to feel about...is that possibly this would free up valuable space in the Port of Houston proper for things that need to be there...as in, the heavy industries and factories from the chemical, oil, and steel plants. The November 2004 issue of Texas monthly had an article, entitled "Attack Here", that mentioned that the Port of Houston and the Houston Ship Channel is the home to the highest concentration of heavy industry in the nation. So with with more space that could become available for heavy industry caused by shipping soft goods and containers away, there will simply be even more heavy industry at the port to replace it. Maybe its because I live so close to it (3-4 miles), and I have seen and heard in my 19 years hear several very large explosions, some of which rattle the earth beneath us...I dont know...but having more heavy industry in such a concentration right where 5 million people live...kinda scares me a little bit.
But still, This could become one of the biggest systems anywhere. The Houston Port Authority allready handles, what, 95% of all Texas Gulf sea traffic? And 65% or so of all Gulf traffic? All of that, or just about, is international traffic from the middleast, south america, Mexico, etc. etc. Imagine what the increased throughput would do to both Houston and Dallas' economies, on top of the allready large share that the Port Authority allready deals with. So I guess it is still all good. Maybe.
Last edited by 2112; 12 May 2005 at 09:36 AM.
'Inland port' to boost S. Dallas
http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/st...l1.html?page=2
Last week, South Dallas proved its clout by drubbing the strong-mayor initiative.
This newspaper favored the ill-fated Proposition 1, but we can't help but admire the strength and unity of the city's long-neglected southern sector. It was a "we-have-arrived" statement as convincing as the most thunderous NBA dunk.
The southern sector is starting to arrive economically as well, and its most exciting developments may be just around the corner.
As we reported in last week's issue, the Port of Houston may locate an "inland port" in southern Dallas County.
Such a facility would handle ocean containers by rail and could bring billions of dollars in new freight traffic, construction and spin-off projects.
While it is early in the process, it's exciting to ponder the impact the project would have on our region. Simply put, it could be the biggest economic boost the southern sector has ever received.
Staff writer Margaret Allen reported that the port and its related developments could be located on the mostly undeveloped parcels around the intersection of interstates 20 and 45.
The sweep of the project's potential is breathtaking: While Dallas is providing leadership, Cedar Hill, Lancaster, DeSoto and others are involved as well.
New infrastructure, such as a rail intermodal route between Dallas and Houston, and even a new cargo airport, are on the table.
Over the next decade, Allen reported, container traffic in the Gulf of Mexico will grow as much as 23%.
Houston handles most of the traffic, and an inland port would unclog the system. Keeping its docks clear is the key to profiting from the increased trade, which is why putting an inland port in Dallas is not a far-fetched idea at all.
As we have long argued, North Texas' future in this post-Telecom-meltdown age lies first and foremost in the logistics industry.
Dallas-Fort Worth's ideal location in the middle of the country, combined with world-class transportation infrastructure and a leading edge in radio frequency identification technology, all adds up to a gold mine.
And this inland port idea could be a very large nugget indeed.
We'll keep reporting on this project as it develops. But we also encourage our readers to lend their moral support, if nothing more tangible, to those involved in trying to make it happen. That includes the Dallas City Council and other cities in southern Dallas County.
Other key players include the U.S. Maritime Administration, the Port of Houston and even the U.S. Congress, which may designate our stretch of Interstate 20 a "high-priority corridor," which would bring additional federal dollars to the table.
For decades, the world south of the Trinity River has been disparaged and ignored. Last week proved that southern Dallas is a force to be reckoned with politically.
It has potential for enormous economic muscle as well.
I had been unaware that Dallas' proposed, and almost certain, inland extention of the Port of Houston is one component of the overall plan of Dallas NAFTA Trade Corridor (DNTC).
A quick search uncovered these two items:
http://www.councilagenda.dallascityh...d?OpenDocument
The City of Dallas signed a contract with David Dean of Dean International, Inc. (DII) in October 2004 to obtain DII's assistance in the development and implementation of an economic strategy for the southern sector of Dallas. As part of the contract, DII was required to develop an Action Plan and Strategy. The Action Plan and Strategy were timely delivered to and approved by the Council in January, 2005..... more at linkThe pre-clearance and Foreign Trade Zone components of DNTC are certain to increase the international business presence in North Texas. I would expect several of the Consulates in Houston to open branch offices in Dallas. DFW airport's international terminal will significantly contribute to the success of the agile port in South Dallas County.
The report from Dean International, INC:
http://204.66.40.189/dallas/eng/comm...fta_status.pdf
The goals of DNTC includes the implementation of five components:
-Agile Port System,
-Inland Port of Pre-Clearance,
-Linear-Foreign Trade Zone,
-Cargo Airport,
-Congressional High Priority Corridor designation.
Union-Pacific already constructing one of the nation's largest rail intermodal facilities near Wilmer/Hutchins which will dramatically increase the amount of trade traffic flowing through southern Dallas County.
I cannot help but think that this cooperative effort between trade operations in Houston and Dallas will place Texas businesses into the group of primary influencers of the world economy. I wonder if the US Navy will have a much stronger presence in Corpus Christi.
Last edited by tamtagon; 24 May 2005 at 02:27 PM.
Our man in Dallas Bill Blaydes has been up in DC quite a bit working with congress on this project. I have heard the reps he has met with were impressed by his knowledge and grasp of the issue and things are def. looking up. More later.
This is something I think the Trinity Tollway might actually be useful for assuming they let large trucks on it. Also, is there rail running from possible locations in South Dallas County to DFW Airport or would this need to be built??
http://www.trinityrailwayexpress.org/
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
Nah.I wonder if the US Navy will have a much stronger presence in Corpus Christi.
But, I'd expect the Coast Guard's Group Galveston forces (covering SE Tx and W Louisiana and even Lake Texoma) could tone up even more.
Dallas port nearer reality, officials say
'We're all pushing to do this as fast as we can,' council member says
11:48 PM CDT on Friday, June 3, 2005
By JIM LANDERS / The Dallas Morning News
Dallas may have edged closer to the coast Friday.
City officials say they were encouraged by talks in Houston with port officials and business leaders on creating an inland port in southern Dallas County.
The port concept involves shipping maritime container cargoes by express rail from congested docks in Houston to Dallas for inspection, sorting and distribution.
"It was a very good day," said Dallas City Council member Bill Blaydes. "We're all pushing to do this as fast as we can."
Attending the meeting were Port Authority Chairman Jim Edmunds, Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, Richard Walker of the U.S. Maritime Administration and representatives from Union Pacific Railroad.
"Using Houston as a port of entry, with really efficient rail connections to Dallas, is an idea made in heaven, given the challenges we face," Undersecretary of Transportation Jeffrey Shane said. "It can be a model for the rest of the country."
Union Pacific is nearing completion of a $100 million intermodal terminal on 360 acres in Hutchins and Wilmer designed to handle 365,000 containers a year.
Dallas officials hope the port concept will attract warehousing and industries to Dallas' southern sector. On Thursday, Mr. Blaydes and consultant David Dean discussed the idea with officials at Target Corp. in Minneapolis.
Mr. Blaydes said that Target was looking for a central location for a large import facility and that a company representative would visit the city in July for further discussion.
Target spokeswoman Paula Thornton-Greear said "no firm plans" came from Thursday's meeting.
Home Depot already runs a large warehouse at the Port of Houston, and Wal-Mart is building one there.
"Our goods traffic has not gone anywhere near what it's going to," Mr. Edmunds said. "The faster we can move it out of this place, the better."
Jim Landers:
Jobs, wealth could land in Dallas area
09:10 PM CDT on Sunday, June 5, 2005
By JIM LANDERS
Imagine stevedores rubbing elbows with rodeo cowboys at a Mesquite watering hole. Or picture techies chatting with pilots while assembling videophones on a flight from Taiwan to Fort Worth Alliance Airport.
These are snapshots of the Dallas-Fort Worth region as a port of call for the relentless production lines around the globe.
The planes, trains and trucks, important in their own right, could also give the area a chance to create wealth and jobs from the churn of globalization.
Stevedores would be part of the picture if Dallas and Houston can get together on sharing maritime cargoes. Officials from Dallas, Mesquite, Harris County, the U.S. Maritime Administration and the Port of Houston Authority met Friday to look deeper into creating an inland port in South Dallas.
They hope to ease container traffic congestion around the Houston docks by taking some of that freight to Dallas for inspection, sorting and transfer.
The inland port would make use of Union Pacific Railroad's new $100 million, 360-acre terminal in Hutchins and Wilmer.
Undersecretary of Transportation Jeffrey Shane called it "an idea made in heaven."
"You're seeing a huge amount of congestion at the traditional gateways – Long Beach, New York – ports that are becoming real bottlenecks despite build-out efforts, enhanced technologies and efficiencies," Mr. Shane said.
"The volumes of trade moving through our traditional ports are at such a level that we need alternatives. The Dallas idea really resonates."
Already a hub
Pilots and technical assembly workers meeting in midair is an idea kicked around at Alliance Airport and in university classrooms.
"At industrial airports, the fuselage is increasingly a place where value is added, particularly in high-tech products," said Donald Hicks, a professor of political economy at the School of Management of the University of Texas at Dallas.
Much of this future has already arrived at Alliance: $5 billion in investments, 22,000 jobs, 130 companies.
Without question, Dallas and Fort Worth are major transportation hubs. Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway move massive amounts of Asian commerce and NAFTA traffic through the region.
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Alliance handle more than a million tons of cargo, and more than a fourth of it is either arriving from or heading to international destinations.
Five interstate highways converge in the area to complete the port picture. (Transportation specialists cite the congestion on these highways, for the moment, as the weak link in the port of Dallas-Fort Worth.)
And more
To make sure this isn't just cargo passing through, the region's colleges and universities have added logistics and supply-chain courses and fields of study.
Some of what they're exploring is already making its way into the region's economy:
•Postponed manufacturing: Companies anxious to protect their intellectual property are increasingly wary of building complete factories in China.
And if they want to ensure that their customers have made hard and fast orders, they should delay final assembly until shortly before delivery.
"Postponed manufacturing means you don't assemble until you are closer to knowing what the customer really wants," said Nancy Nix, director of the Supply and Value Chain Center at the M. J. Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University.
Jon Kirkegaard, a logistics consultant who heads the Dallas firm DCRA Inc., urges companies to make components in Asia but move those by air or rail to Dallas for final assembly.
"Memphis or Louisville might get a little advantage for smaller goods like jewelry. But for larger goods, there's no better location for adding value than right here," he said.
•Storage in motion: The faster a product gets from the factory to the store shelf, the lower the cost. The intermodal business of containerized freight is built on that idea. A nimble business has less need for warehouses if it can manage inventory with container traffic.
•RFID: Radio frequency identification is rapidly being added to containers and other types of freight. The low-wattage signals give shippers and customers instant awareness of product and component locations. That enhances "storage in motion," but adds other efficiencies as well.
"No one's clear yet on how and where RFID is going to work with their business, but there's no question it will have a major impact down the pike," Ms. Nix said.
The company I work for has been looking into RFID implementations at our plants and warehouses. As the above article states, it supplies real-time location information for stored and in-transit inventories. RFID provides better customer service and extremely accurate inventory management capabilities. It's definitely the future. If Dallas can make the port idea work, it will definitely provide a strong foundation for both blue- and white-collar employment growth in the years ahead. How exciting!
Isnt North Texas home to the world leading companies in RFID technology development and implimentation?
What does the company do?
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