opportunities, says John H. Boyd of the site selection consulting firm Boyd Co. Inc. Florida is a logical location for
basing those trade operations.
Both of these trends are working to make Florida a more
attractive location for logistics and
distribution facilities—especially
when combined with the fact that
the state is, and will likely remain, a
potent consuming force with a population of 19 million.
Companies that are considering
Florida for a distribution facility,
however, may find themselves shying
away from the coasts. Land prices
around the ports can be steep, and
coastal areas are at risk of flooding in the hurricane-prone
state, says Boyd.
The central Florida communities of Orlando, Lakeland,
and Ocala—to name a few—are more protected from these
weather concerns. Central Florida also has plenty of land
available at favorable prices as the local real estate market is
still recovering from the downturn, according to Dave King,
PIEDMONT TRIAD, N.C.
The Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina may not be
a major metropolitan area, but it has an interstate highway
system that most major cities would envy. The 12-county
area, which includes Greensboro, High Point, and
Winston-Salem, boasts five interstates: 1-73, 1-74, I- 77, I-
85, and I- 40.
“The Triad area has one of the densest concentrations of
interstates in the United States,” says Charles Edwards,
director of the North Carolina Center of Global Logistics.
“There’s Chicago, St. Louis, and a few other very large
major metropolitan areas that have more interstate, but we
don’t have the congestion that those locations have.”
Old Dominion Freight Line Inc., considered by many to
be among the best-run trucking companies in the business,
calls the region home. FedEx Corp.’s mid-Atlantic hub is
also based in the Triad, and one of the company’s largest
ground hubs is located in Kernersville, N.C.
head of real estate operations for the real estate company
STAG Industrial.
Many large companies are taking advantage of those
opportunities. Grocery chain Publix, for example, recently
cut the ribbon on a 1 million-square-foot distribution facility in
Orlando. Furniture retailer Rooms
To Go has opened a 2 million-square-foot facility in nearby
Lakeland.
In addition to abundant property
and a strong infrastructure, Central
Florida also sets itself apart by
means of a very business-friendly
tax structure, says Sean Malott,
manager of business development for the economic development organization Enterprise Florida. For example,
Florida does not have a state income tax, and it doesn’t
impose property taxes on business inventories or goods-in-transit (or goods acquired and stored in a facility before
being shipped elsewhere) for up to 180 days from the time
of being acquired.
The region is served by CSX Corp. and by Norfolk
Southern Corp., which has an intermodal terminal in
Greensboro and a bulk transfer terminal in Winston-Salem.
Companies that operate distribution facilities in the region
include Ralph Lauren, Harris Teeter, Ashley Furniture, and
the aviation firms Honda Aero and Timco Aviation
Services.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, between 50,000 and 60,000 of the
region’s residents work in transportation and logistics,
according to data from the local chapter of the World Trade
Association. (The U.S. Census Bureau, which defines logistics jobs more narrowly, puts the number at 27,000.) “That
makes the Triad one of the larger [logistics] centers in the
world,” says Edwards. “There are actually more people
engaged in transportation and logistics in the Triad than in
the Rotterdam area. Of course, we’re a lot smaller than
Memphis or New Jersey or L.A./Long Beach, but we are not
trying to be those areas.”
