Inland ports are rising

Inland ports are trending upward as seaports invest in inland location to leverage efficiencies and a platform for growth to handle rising TEU volumes.

Inland ports are rising. Naturally, inland ports have always been a fundamental feature of the American port system — whether those ports are located on the Mississippi-Missouri rivers in the center of the country, or the Great Lake ports in the north or the hundreds of ports located in bays and estuaries on the coasts.

But a new version of the inland port is rising, and it is based on rail and road connections to the sea. Inland ports are transitioning into a multi-dimensional gateway which augments other facets of the supply chain, building resilience into the system. In a sense the new inland ports are industrial or logistics parks but with keener connection to the “port” structure itself.

Rail is the Key

For example, the St. Louis Regional Freightway is home to a number of multimodal terminals served by trucking, rail and even barge transportation. The wide range of options in turn has attracted manufacturers and shippers to invest in the region. [For more information see Brenda Silva’s article “St. Louis intermodal business invites investment” August 19, 2024, issue 768 page 10]. Another similar inland port venture is the Utah Inland Port Authority [See Chris Barnett’s article “The Utah Inland Port Authority (UIPA) is building the nation’s most comprehensive intermodal network” August 21, 2023, issue 756 page 2]. Like the case of the St Louis Freightway terminals, the rail connection, Union Pacific (UP) in UIPA’s case, is the transportation element that pulls the concept together. This enables UIPA to widen their market basin both north and south as well as the east-west run of the railroad connecting to the mega-West Coast ports.

And the UIPA isn’t the only inland port taking aim at the West Coast ports. The Port of Nevada opened its doors this year offering direct intermodal service for imports and exports between Fernley, Nevada (located 34 miles from Reno) and the Port of Oakland, California. The 224-acre Port of Nevada is the result of the port’s collaboration with Union Pacific Railroad (UPR), the CMA CGM Group and the Port of Oakland. The distance from the Port of Nevada to the Port of Oakland is about 240 miles. The Port of Nevada facility is owned and being developed by the Industrial Realty Group LLC (IRG), a Los Angeles based industrial realty group. While the intermodal ramp is the key offering, there is a “build it and they will come” quality to the port’s concept. By having the rail facility and connection, the idea is it will attract both shipper and manufacturers to the region. The port is also designated as a tech hub which could help spur development.

And the race to build inland connections has begun to rise in the Gulf as well. In September Gulf Inland Logistics Park, managed and developed by Liberty Development Partners, announced that it has completed the acquisition of 1,149 acres of prime industrial real estate in Dayton, Texas, along the Grand Parkway, south of Highway 90. The property, purchased from seller Sammi Damek, will be utilized to further expand Gulf Inland Logistics Park, which is in phase two of a three-phase expansion that will total 3,800 acres. Gulf Inland Logistics Park’s strategic location offers an ideal environment for industrial, commercial, and retail development. Within a 40-minute radius, it has access to a skilled and reliable workforce of over 2.3 million people. Gulf Inland Logistics Park also benefits from its proximity to major transportation arteries, including Downtown Houston, the Port of Houston, and The Woodlands. Port of Houston, and The Woodlands. CMC Railroad provides comprehensive on-site rail services at Gulf Inland Logistics Park. These services include storage for over 3,000 railcars, railcar repair, and transportation operations. The park’s rail infrastructure is a key asset, providing businesses with efficient and cost-effective transportation solutions, and making the site an essential logistics hub in the region.

Inland Ports of Greer and Dillon

And for many of these terminals, the key is rail services. With rail literally doing the heavy lifting, transloading or intermodal services can readily augment services for shippers. One of the early adopters of the “inland ports” concept was Inland Port Greer, South Carolina. Inland Port Greer, like the Port of Charleston itself, operates under the South Carolina Ports (SCP) umbrella. The key is the Norfolk Southern (NS) rail which runs from the Port of Charleston to Greer, located just over 200 miles west of the port. The Greer facility connects with both highways and Norfolk Southern’s trunk line that runs northeast-southwest with a network of rail connections that reach far beyond. The location of the Greer facility near Interstate 85 also made it an ideal gateway to the Atlanta, Georgia and Charlotte, North Carolina markets.

The Inland Port Greer concept started with an anchor tenant; BMW which has a manufacturing plant in Greer. By using the existing rail track BMW had a two-way connection to the Port of Charleston for both imports of parts and exports of finished vehicles. But the concept has expanded and is a full-fledged “satellite” port to terminal operations in the Port of Charleston itself with a dedicated scheduled rail service. And the inland port system is growing with $31 million in additions. According to the SCP more than 9,000 feet of processing and storage tracks have been installed in FY 24 and the work included an expansion of the container yard, doubling the existing chassis yard capacity.

The formula used to build Inland Port Greer was also deployed again in developing the CSX rail-served Inland Port Dillion, located 160-miles northeast of the Port of Charleston, which opened in 2018. The anchor tenant in this case is Harbor Freight Tools, the mega-tool retailer.

And the SCP’s inland port concept is being refined with the addition of the $110 million Navy Base Intermodal Facility (NBIF). The NBIF is a near-dock rail facility —adjacent to SCP’s Leatherman Terminal — and will feature six rail-mounted gantry cranes, 7,000-8,000 feet of linear rail track, and be capable of one million rail lifts each year and will be served both by CSX and NS services that will connect to their respective inland ports of Dillon and Greer. This will cut down some of the container handling on the Charleston side for both inland ports.

Georgia Ports’ Inland Intermodal Drive

Like SCP using rail to reach inland is an integral part of the GPA’s strategy. The Port of Savannah’s Mason Mega Rail Terminal is touted to be the largest on-port intermodal facility in North America with 24-miles of on terminal track and an annual 2 million TEU throughput. But impressive as the Mason terminal is, it is the connections that make it work — in this case, the Blue Ridge Connector (BRC), the latest step in GPA’s strategic rail strategy. The BRC, located near Gainesville, Georgia, is designed to link northeast Georgia to Savannah via the Norfolk Southern rail’s infrastructure. When complete, the 104-acre site will feature six tracks for a total of 18,000 feet. NS rail will provide five-day a week service to the Blue Ridge Connector, which will operate from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. GPA will provide expedited service from Savannah to the BRC with third day availability. Slated to open in 2026, the $127 million facility will serve an existing customer base, which also includes producers of heavy equipment and forest products. When completed the BRC will have an annual capacity of 200,000 containers.

Before the BRC, the GPA had already established the inland port dubbed the Appalachian Regional Port (ARP). The ARP located in northwest Georgia, in FY 2024, (ending June 30th) achieved a record mark of 36,730 rail lifts, a 9% increase over FY2023, which was itself a record year for the terminal.

Georgia Ports has landed some major accounts that have located near the Appalachian Regional Port, including GE Appliances, LG and solar technology producer Hanwha Qcells, which is now on its third expansion.

And the ARP isn’t the farthest reach as an inland port for the GPA.

The Carolina Connector (CC) service, which links the Port of Savannah to Rocky Mount, N.C., via CSX rail is a unique facility. The connection means importers can get access to cargo before it could even be offloaded at other East Coast ports.

And the Carolina Connector, the St Louis Regional Freightway and the Port of Nevada all involve cross-state investments in inland ports to maximize the reach and efficiencies of their ports. A trend that will further boost investment in inland ports in North America.