PHILADELPHIA: 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 release citing a report from CBRE Group Inc. 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 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.
“Inland ports account for more than half of the fastest growing industrial markets in the U.S., because they are key way stations in the national e-commerce distribution network,” said David Egan, CBRE’s head of industrial and logistics research in the Americas, in a statement. “As online commerce continues to expand, more shippers, retailers and logistics firms will seek top-quality, big-box warehouses in the leading inland-port markets to serve as critical links in their supply chains.”
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 Harrisburg; southern California’s Inland Empire; Phoenix; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Kansas City, Mo.; Houston; St. Louis; Chicago; Memphis, Tenn.; Columbus, Ohio; Atlanta; and Greenville, S.C.
Inland ports are defined as having a Class I rail connection to a major seaport and also having access to significant transportation infrastructure, whether it is rail, highway, waterway or a combination of the three.
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-Fort Worth, Texas (both at 3.6 percent).
