The Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois today released the findings of the Southwestern Illinois Freight Transportation Study undertaken to determine the best ways to advance the region as a multimodal hub. The study aimed to identify quantitative means for the region to understand its position in the marketplace and to evaluate key performance indicators to prioritize areas of investment. By analyzing freight flows and freight infrastructure, conducting a market survey of industry representatives and a comparative cities review, the study concluded that the region is a multimodal hub positioned for growth.
Peer cities for the study included Indianapolis, Nashville, Louisville, Kansas City, Columbus and Memphis, and the study, which utilized data for the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area so the findings would be applicable to the region as a whole, clearly supports that the St. Louis region is well positioned against these peer cities. Among the key findings, the study revealed that the St. Louis region is the largest freight hub with significant presence of all modes of transportation; it is tied with Indianapolis and Columbus as the best location for manufacturing, and it is a top location for regional warehousing and distribution, capturing the #2 spot just behind Indianapolis. The St. Louis region has the largest number of workers employed in manufacturing of its peer cities. And, compared to its peer cities, total truck cost from the St. Louis region produced the lowest cost option for shippers, with shipments originating from St. Louis capable of reaching anywhere in the U.S. within a three-day truck drive.
A variety of factors contribute to these top rankings for the St. Louis region.
- Six Class 1 Railroads and favorable intermodal rail service to Eastern markets from St. Louis provides a rail transit-time advantage over competing logistics hubs to the west;
- Major multi-directional interstates allow freight to travel radially from the St. Louis region in six different directions and reach any U.S. destination in just three days;
- As home to the most northerly, ice-free, full-service port on the Mississippi River, barge traffic can travel lock-free to and from the Gulf of Mexico;
- Five airports in the region have cargo service capacity available, including MidAmerica St. Louis Airport with its cold storage capabilities for perishable goods, and
- The region is a proven logistics leader with available real estate, with over 15 million square feet of freight-based modern warehouse space developed in Southwestern Illinois in the last two decades.
“We’ve long recognized that our region has these locational advantages and their contribution to the successful distribution models demonstrated by the existing presence of national logistics leaders such as Dial, Hershey’s, Procter and Gamble, Target and many more,” noted Mark Harms, chairman of the Leadership Council’s Southwestern Illinois Transportation
Enhancement (SITE) initiative which worked closely with TranSystems on the study. “But we now have a much clearer picture of how well they positon our region in an intensely competitive freight marketplace, along with greater insight into the various opportunities for collaboration to help advance the region as a premiere freight gateway.”
Among the opportunities identified is the need to ramp up promotion of the region as a key distribution hub in the epicenter of the Midwest Markets; continue and increase investment in the transportation network; build on the success in bulk and break-bulk transload services; target growth in regional distribution and manufacturing; promote the region’s benefits for eCommerce, and capture growth from emerging trends, such as focusing on the Port of Houston and emerging Latin American trade.
While the Leadership Council will continue to collaborate with key partners who will champion the efforts going forward, much of the heavy lifting in pursuing these will be taken up by the newly formed Regional Freight District, the newest enterprise of Bi-State Development, which was created as a public-private partnership to optimize the region’s freight transportation network. Mary Lamie, Executive Director of the Regional Freight District, was on hand for the Freight Opportunities Forum where the study findings were shared, and she provided additional insight regarding the role of the district.
“The Freight District’s mission is to accelerate regional economic growth by coordinating public and private efforts, optimizing the regional multimodal investment portfolio and marketing Greater St. Louis’ multimodal opportunities,” noted Lamie. “These efforts will include planning, programming and coordinating freight-related improvements that align economic development with supply chain and increasing freight velocity.”
Sara Clark, Leader of the Transportation Planning Team at TranSystems and author of the study, notes that while St. Louis has a long-held dominant position on bulk commodity shipments, the region is particularly well positioned to benefit from projected growth in shipments of higher value/warehousable/manufactured goods, which are expected to grow at a faster rate than the bulk commodity shipments. “The regional distribution service area is within a 300 to 400 mile radius of St. Louis. Additionally, the region already is home to UPS and FedEx hubs making it an ideal location for eCommerce,” states Clark.
“The timing for this Forum couldn’t be better as this is truly an exciting time in our county and across Southwestern Illinois for investments that will advance our region as a premiere freight gateway,” noted Alan Dunstan, Chairman of Madison County. “In 2014, our unmatched location as a logistics hub attracted the largest speculative industrial building the metro east has ever seen, which is now completed and occupied, and a second speculative building representing another $30 million investment is now under development, also at the thriving Gateway Commerce. A third, planned for Lakeview Commerce Center, has just been announced in the past few weeks, further evidence of the exceptional advantages we offer for those in the logistics and distribution sector.”
“It’s critical infrastructure investments like the new Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge and the Reider Road/I-64 interchange under construction by Scott Air Force Base and MidAmerica Airport that contribute to the enviable transportation network here in Southwestern Illinois and make it such a clear choice for company’s such as FedEx, which chose Sauget Industrial park for one of its newest distribution centers in the nation,” noted St. Clair County Chairman Mark Kern, who couldn’t attend the forum but is familiar with the findings of the study. “The information shared today highlights the many attributes our region has that attract this type of investment and the opportunities identified to help ensure that we continue to grow this vital sector of our economy.”
This study was funded through an IDOT grant to the Leadership Council, administered by Madison County. It represents another significant step in the regional efforts to create a new identity for the St. Louis region, and for Southwestern Illinois within that region, as a vibrant and growing multimodal hub. Those efforts include the 2011 launch of the Leadership Council’s Southwestern Illinois Transportation Enhancement Initiative, and the St. Louis Regional Freight Study Initiated in 2012 by the East West Gateway Council of Governments, which ultimately led to the formation of the St. Louis Regional Freight District in 2015.
The complete findings from the study can be found on the Leadership Council’s website at www.leadershipcouncilswil.com under the Resources tab.
The Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois is a member-based, economic development corporation representing Madison and St. Clair counties. The Council works to attract/retain jobs and stimulate capital investment through its coalition of leaders in business, industry, labor, education and government. These effective partnerships serve as a driving force behind successful economic development efforts throughout the Metro East region. For more information, visit www.leadershipcouncilswil.com.
For more information, contact:
Julie Hauser, (314) 436-9090