Top inland ports, including Dallas/Fort Worth, expanding at nearly twice national pace
Dallas – July 25, 2016 – The rapid growth of e-commerce has fueled development of warehouses and distribution centers in the 12 primary U.S. inland-port markets at nearly twice the national rate, according to a new report from CBRE Group, Inc.
Collectively, the 12 inland ports expanded their base of industrial properties by 2.7 percent in this year’s first quarter, far outpacing the national average growth rate of 1.6 percent, according to CBRE research. The fastest growing of the 12 were the Inland Empire (4.3 percent), Greenville (4.2 percent), Atlanta and Dallas/Ft. Worth (both at 3.6 percent).
Even with the surge in construction, demand for industrial buildings in those markets is so robust that nine of the 12 have seen their availability rates decline from their post-recession peaks faster than the national rate.
By far the leading catalyst for the growth of inland ports is e-commerce, which has flooded U.S. seaports with an unprecedented volume of foreign cargo destined for markets across the U.S. That cargo is routed from seaports to nearby inland ports, which are major transportation hubs where cargo is handled, warehoused and broken into smaller batches for further distribution to consumers within that region.
“The combination of growing imports, our expanding population and the emergence of e-commerce has placed the Dallas/Fort Worth area in the center of the bullseye for growth as an inland port,” said Steve Berger, Senior Vice President with CBRE in Dallas. “The predominant distribution model has imports being sent from the west coast by train to our two major intermodals, into our warehouses, and then onto trucks to fan out and make deliveries to points north, east and south. Within a half day’s drive, a truck can serve three of the 10 largest U.S. cities and a combined population of over 25 million people.”
In the report, CBRE identifies the main inland ports in the U.S. based on their connection to major seaports, their transportation infrastructure and their close proximity to major population centers. Those are: Southern California’s Inland Empire; Phoenix; Dallas/Ft. Worth; Kansas City; Houston; St. Louis; Chicago; Memphis, Tenn.; Columbus, Ohio; Atlanta; Greenville, S.C.; and East and Central Pennsylvania.
Inland ports are defined as having a Class I rail connection to a major seaport and also having access to significant transportation infrastructure, be it rail, highway, waterway or a combination of the three.
“Inland-port markets have recovered faster than their non-port counterparts since the Great Recession,” said Scott Marshall, CBRE’s Executive Managing Director of Industrial & Logistics in the Americas. “These markets will hold their edge because they have sustainable advantages in their infrastructure, access to population centers and connections to major seaports to benefit them for the foreseeable future.”
To download the report, click here.
