EVERY INDUSTRY HAS ITS “BIBLE,” A TRADE PUBLIcation that wields major clout among the sector’s practitioners. Within the big money and politically driven world
of corporate real estate and regional economic development, arguably the bible is Site Selection magazine.
So when the publication ranked Georgia as the state with
the best business climate in 2013, it was more than a “
sit-up-and-take-notice” moment. It was a validation of years
of promotion and investment designed to make the state
the country’s best place to work, live, and move goods to
market.
Mark Arend, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, said half of
the ranking is based on a survey of site selectors who were
asked to choose the top 10 states in terms of attractive business climates. The survey’s methodology, Arend said, does
not include logistics-specific criteria. “States’ logistics assets
might have figured into how [site selectors] ranked states,
but we can’t quantify that,” he said.
Still, quality of transportation infrastructure is the second most important criterion in site selection decisions,
trailing only the skills of the local workforce, according
to the magazine. That plays right into Georgia’s strengths.
For all the elements that make the Peach State attractive—a
pro-business government, reasonable living and business
costs, a temperate climate, and a topography bracketed by
mountains to the west and in the center, and a seacoast on
the east—perhaps no quality elevates it to the top rung in
site selectors’ eyes as its logistics capabilities.
Georgia offers five interstate highways, 20,000 miles of
federal and state roads, and a metropolis in Atlanta that
straddles the Eastern and Central time zones and is situat-
ed within two days’ driving or flying time of 80 percent of
all U.S. major markets. The state’s “right-to-work” labor
climate lessens the influence of unions, a factor for busi-
nesses that might be concerned about organized labor’s
gaining a foothold inside a warehouse or DC. Its logistics
apparatus is anchored by the Port of Savannah, the coun-
try’s fourth-busiest containerport; its sister port in nearby
Brunswick that specializes in the handling of roll-on,
roll-off cargoes like automobiles; and Hartsfield-Atlanta
International Airport, the world’s busiest airport. It doesn’t
hurt that UPS Inc., the nation’s largest transportation com-
pany, is headquartered in Atlanta and that the company’s
successful “We Love Logistics” advertising campaign has
raised the visibility of the craft, and to a certain degree, the
state’s role in it.
HIGH-PERFORMING PORTS
At a harbor depth of only 42 feet, Savannah is not and
will never be the deepest port on the East Coast. The
state has struggled for 14 years to dredge Savannah’s
harbor to 47 feet; it has budgeted $231 million for the
project, but the federal government has yet to come
through with the balance. The dredging project won’t be
completed for another two to three years at the earliest.
But what Savannah lacks in harbor depth, it makes
up for in a logistics network that is the envy of virtually
every port on the continent. It is the only Southeast port
served by the two Eastern Class I railroads, CSX Corp. and
Norfolk Southern Corp. Those operations are augmented
Georgia has made logistics a priority for
years. That focus is now paying off.
BY MARK B. SOLOMON, SENIOR EDITOR
SITE SELECTION SERIES
LOGISTICS HOT SPOTS:
Georgia
