Ingram's August 2022

Missouri on the Move An emerging powerhouse in logistics

E xecutives across the nation who are tasked with directing their companies’ next strategic choices for distribution would be well advised to study Missouri and think twice before looking elsewhere on the map. What should have the Show-Me State top of mind in their deliberations?  We’re centered. The population center for a nation with 330 million people is smack-dab in Missouri. That means ship ping is closer to more customers and sup pliers, in all directions, than virtually any other state. Half of all U.S. households and manufacturing concerns are within a sin gle-day’s drive, as are eight of the nation’s top 20 fastest-growing metro populations.  We’re built . Infrastructure is bak- ed into the distribution cake in Missouri, which has multiple four-lane interstates crossing the landscape, rail access to Mex ico, Canada and both coasts, Mississippi river ports with lock-free access to the Gulf of Mexico, and a pair of airports sup porting international traffic.  The Bigs are here . The roster of America’s major logistics companies in cludes Amazon, Walmart, Dollar General, General Mills, Toys R Us and Kraft Foods. I. Introduction

Every one of them has major distribution centers in Missouri, and several of them are shipping from multiple sites.  Business? Yeah , we get it. Cost structures in Missouri don’t just blow away those found in major population centers, they’re even lower than you’ll find in most other Midwestern states.  Fill ’erup : Evenwiththephased fuel- tax increased approve by the General Assem bly in 2021, gas and diesel taxes in Missouri are lower than you’ll find in 37 other states.  Ready to work . With almost 300,000 workers in the transportation and logistics industry, Missouri boasts a growing, diverse population, and one with a strong work ethic. In all, it’s a powerful argument for basing a distribution operation inMissouri. “We are really starting to see Missouri’s advantage,” says Mark Long, managing di rector of the Newmark Zimmer commer cial realty firm in Kansas City. “One thing I look at that has been indicative of that, the Kansas City Southern merger (with Cana dian Pacific) is an indication of our truly strategic location, where all of these supply chain and transportation-related benefits come to light.”

What Missouri has going for it, espec ially with the major metro areas relative to their coastal counterparts, is lots of space for expansion, Long and others in that field note. “You have rail, transportation infra structure, location in the middle of the country, you have a unique work attitude here that actually rings loud when people are considering the type of work force they want to fill their factory or building,” Long said. “That, combined with the avail able ground and the infrastructure avail ability, means we do stand to grow.” Growth in the logistics sector over the past decade in particular has made it a pil lar of the Missouri economy, contributing $11.6 billion to the state’s GDP. The Missouri State Freight Plan, pro duced by the Department of Transpor tation, shows that more than half of the state’s economy is affected through the direct movement of freight or the use of freight systems. The good news for the state is that national projections show a surge of growth in U.S. freight movement. Rail commodity value, for example, is forecast to hit $790 billion in 2030, an increase of 70 percent from 2011, when it stood at $465 billion. But even that pales compared to the $1.2 trillion—with a “t”—in trucking commodity value, up from $710 billion a decade ago. And air freight is expected to have bumped 142 percent by then, hitting $27 billion in value. Inland waterway values, though a smaller share overall, are still projected to carry a healthy $15 billion in value. While centrality is good and infrastruc ture is better, nothing gets shipped without the right work force. Again, that’s where Missouri’s strengths become evident based on a combination of skills, supply and work ethic. Already, the state’s logistics work force is the second-largest among the eight bordering states, and its transportation and warehousingwork force is the fourth largest. Filling the pipeline for prospective workers in that sector are a dozen colleges

Minneapolis–St. Paul

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Distance fromMissouri

1,200 mile radius 600 mile radius

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