Ingram's August 2022

LOGISTICS

and universities that with academic pro grams in logistics and supply-chain man agement, both for degree seekers and those needing certifications for specific warehousing and shipping careers. All of those factors have helped make Missouri increasingly competitive as a cen ter for logistics, and that competitiveness has shown up in the markets for industrial space. Even before the pandemic onset in 2020, e-commerce was driving growth in that market and the footprint for large warehouses jumped from 100,000 square feet to more than 1 million in some cases. The pandemic has further altered con sumer purchasing patterns, and the huge surge in on-line ordering has made it more crucial than ever for shippers to reach the biggest numbers of shoppers in the short est amount of time. The population dynamics of Missouri make for an interesting case study: While the St. Louis MSA is considerably larger in population, Kansas City is the bigger stand alone city, and is now considered an upper tier logistics hub with in theMidwest, com pared to the middle-tier status of St. Louis. Some of that might be attributed to ge ography: In Kansas City, there is no short age of highway passage across the state line into Kansas there; traffic flows much more freely there than in a communitywith choke points across one of the nation’s biggest riv ers. Another may be the much more busi ness-friendly climate of Missouri’s western neighbor, as opposed towhat companies find in the considerably more demanding tax cli mate of Illinois, across the river in St. Louis. Site Selection Group, which ranks the nation’s top logistics markets, put both metro areas in its Top 20 nationwide in 2021, with KansasCity’s growthpropelling it up five spots to No. 16, surpassing St. Louis at No. 18. The ranking criteria included population within a one-day drive, international airport and in terstate highway access, distribution worker head counts and concentrations, and the availability and cost of industrial real estate. Area Development , a publication that assesses commercial realty market streng- th, was even more impressed ranking Kansas City fifth nationally, behind Chi cago, Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta. That was the same ranking assigned by Freight Cowboy , putting Kansas City be hind only New York, Houston, Minneapo lis and Dallas.

KEY INFRASTRUCTURE: 20 private railroad owners 5,300 miles of railroad, including 4,670 of Class I 5,500 at-grade highway-rail crossings 141 intermodal facilities

TONS:

% OF TOTAL:

VALUE:

% OF TOTAL:

414 million

45%

$590.4b

51%

KEY INFRASTRUCTURE: 33,832 miles of state highways, including 1,380 miles of interstate 10,600 public and private truck parking spaces

TONS:

% OF TOTAL:

VALUE:

% OF TOTAL:

406.6 million 41%

$495.6b

43%

KEY INFRASTRUCTURE: 3 primary air cargo facilities at airports located within Foreign-Trade zones

TONS:

% OF TOTAL:

VALUE:

% OF TOTAL:

200,000 <1%

$22.0b

2%

KEY INFRASTRUCTURE: 1,050 miles of inland waterways along 4 federally-designated marine highways 16 public port authorities, eight locks and dams, more than 120 river transload terminals

TONS:

% OF TOTAL:

VALUE:

% OF TOTAL:

39.9 million

4%

$7.6b

2%

KEY INFRASTRUCTURE: More than 25 major pipelines with 20 operators

TONS:

% OF TOTAL:

VALUE:

% OF TOTAL:

89 million

9%

$27b

2%

Source: Missouri Department of Transportation

11

D e s t i n a t i o n M i s s o u r i . c o m

Missouri’s Business Media

2022