Dallas: Port of Houston's Inland Outpost

[tamtagon]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...t.5904a915.html

Task force sought to establish land port for goods from gulf

11:24 PM CDT on Thursday, April 28, 2005

By BRENDAN M. CASE / The Dallas Morning News

E-mail bcase@dallasnews.com

My synopsis of this Dallas Morning News article, they're talking about it on the Dallas forum:

Leaders from the city of Dallas, Dallas County, Harris County, the Port of Houston Authority and the Mexican Port of Manzanillo to study the creation of an inland port in Dallas.

Trains running between the "Dallas Agile Port System" and the Port of Houston would carry cargo containers. Some of goods shipped through Houston would be packed and unpacked somewhere in Dallas County.

Inland ports operate as distribution processing centers so boat dock time is reduced.

"The concept of an agile system is that you increase the velocity of the cargo moving through the system," said Richard Walker, the U.S. Maritime Administration's intermodal development director.

The article indicates that the transportation infrastructure in North Texas allows easier product distribution to the rest of the country.

In Northern Virginia, for example, the 16-year-old Virginia Inland Port has attracted numerous warehouses from large companies and other business activity.

The port project is part of the Dallas NAFTA Trade Corridor project, which is named for the North American Free Trade Agreement. -- I always chuckle when I see North American Free Trade Agreement in print haha

[UrbaNerd]

Hmm..this would be quite a boon for both cities. I say we go for it.

[dalparadise]

Hmm..this

[jt16]

If we want to speed ships in and out of port, we should cooperate with Galveston, not Dallas. A joint operation of the two ports would increase our bandwidth and keep all the business in this metropolitan area. Right?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And Beaumont for that matter. We have three pretty significant ports in this area. Why do we need Dallas to help speed the process along? I agree with Dal, this seems to be something that will suck a lot of business out of the area into North Texas.

[UrbaNerd]

Well..it will be a barrier, only if it does not increase the amount of cargo being shipped in. If it works out well, then the amount of cargo flowing through the port will increase, benefitting Houston, and both Dallas.

But, if we want to keep all of the economic growth down here, then that's fine with me, too.

[dalparadise]

let's also not forget Port Freeport, the fastest growing port on the Gulf Coast. It's in adjacent Brazoria County. Could we look for ways to help that industrial center grow before we send our money up to Dallas?

[tamtagon]

My impressions are generally anecdotal because I'm pretty uninformed about Port of Houston operations. I really would appreciate the understand gained from people who know more about the Port, and agile inland ports.

As I understand it, most of the land very close to the boat docks must be used to handle the potentially dangerous product passing through the port - chemicals, oil, gas, and the like. The volume of innocous goods coming/going through the port basically is expected to increase indefinately, and there's not much cargo container packing/unpacking warehouse space available close to the boats.

Based on this hierachy of portside processing facilities, then the only reason an agile port is feasible more than 20 miles away from the physical Port of Houston is the net savings to transportation costs. The bulk of future increases to cargo container volume will be loaded onto a train and delivered to a remote processing center and the additional cost to run the train and extra 200 miles to Dallas county is insignificant compared to the saving in final delivery distrubution costs.

A remote processing center could be built anywhere to meet the goal of reduce dock time, but North Texas transportation infrastructure provides more pervasive access to the rest of the country. Most of the stuff coming/going to the Midwest will ride through North Texas anyway.

The Mexican Port of Manzanillo is just south of Puerto Vallarta opened in 1995 and is developing trans-Pacific service for U.S. customers. I am guessing their participation in this study is because trains would connect the Mexican port to the Dallas Agile Port System.

Manzanillo International Terminal:

http://www.mitpan.com/eng/default.html

[tamtagon]

let's also not forget Port Freeport, the fastest growing port on the Gulf Coast. It's in adjacent Brazoria County. Could we look for ways to help that industrial center grow before we send our money up to Dallas?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think the idea is that regardless of through which Texas port the cargo enters the state, Metroplex cargo container processing centers would provide preferable transportation infrastructure and connectivity.

A move like this would send "Houston" sorting, packing and unpacking jobs to Dallas, and that's probablly the biggest barrier to a project like this, but I'm wondering if the port volume increase resulting from faster turn around time for the cargo ships would create enough Port jobs in Houston to help balance the warehouse jobs exported to Dallas...?

To me, the most important aspect of a project like this would be a stronger economic relation between the two largest Texas job centers. Both DFW and Houston have substantial momentum within the world economy, and both are increasingly more influential. I cant help but think that more opportunities would come to both metro areas and the state with cooperative projects like this.

I'm also wondering how a project like this will impact the TranTexas Corridor Project. Hopefully the Port of Houston Authority's interest to participate in an agile inland port in Dallas county will influence I-35 alternate tollroad crap shoot. Should a facility in Dallas be based on a rail cargo link to the Port of Houston, this facility could provide overwhelming and compelling reasons for cargo transportation from Mexico through North Texas to cross the state on a train rather than a truck. I'm basically opposed to building more highways solely for more expensive and less efficient long haul truck cargo transportation, and a giant distribution processing center in the North Texas cross-roads which would process cargo entering the state at Laredo and Houston seems like a best case scenerio.

--And thinking about it futher, to combine the cargo processing of Houston and Lardeo import/export cargo would result in the greatest increase to the state economy.

A dedicated train link from the Port of Houston to Dallas distribution center would have dramatic impact to the Central United States. This is pretty big stuff.

[dalparadise]

I think the idea is that regardless of through which Texas port the cargo enters the state, Metroplex cargo container processing centers would provide preferable transportation infrastructure and connectivity. 

A move like this would send "Houston" sorting, packing and unpacking jobs to Dallas, and that's probablly the biggest barrier to a project like this, but I'm wondering if the port volume increase resulting from faster turn around time for the cargo ships would create enough Port jobs in Houston to help balance the warehouse jobs exported to Dallas...? 

To me, the most important aspect of a project like this would be a stronger economic relation between the two largest Texas job centers.  Both DFW and Houston have substantial momentum within the world economy, and both are increasingly more influential.  I cant help but think that more opportunities would come to both metro areas and the state with cooperative projects like this. 

I'm also wondering how a project like this will impact the TranTexas Corridor Project.  Hopefully the Port of Houston Authority's interest to participate in an agile inland port in Dallas county will influence I-35 alternate tollroad crap shoot.  Should a facility in Dallas be based on a rail cargo link to the Port of Houston, this facility could provide overwhelming and compelling reasons for cargo transportation from Mexico through North Texas to cross the state on a train rather than a truck.  I'm basically opposed to building more highways solely for  more expensive and less efficient long haul truck cargo transportation, and a giant distribution processing center in the North Texas cross-roads which would process cargo entering the state at Laredo and Houston seems like a best case scenerio.

--And thinking about it futher, to combine the cargo processing of Houston and Lardeo import/export cargo would result in the greatest increase to the state economy. 

A dedicated train link from the Port of Houston to Dallas distribution center would have dramatic impact to the Central United States.  This is pretty big stuff.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with you, but am still hesitant to turn our port into Dallas' weigh station.

Think about it from a corporate perspective. Say, Chiquita bananas decides the port of Houston is the best US gateway for their farms in The Dominican Republic. As things are now, they would probably build a huge refrigerated facility at the port of Houston to offload their refrigerated containers and prepare the shipments for distribution. Ultimately there would be corporate presence here, too, and maybe by the time Dole or whomever decided to buy them, there would be enough momentum in the business that a real corporate presence could be established here. That means an office building, or at least a lease. It might also mean advertising money starts coming to the area. Plus, these executives have to buy homes and groceries, etc. It also means raw goods like their wood crates, boxes, stickers, etc. might need to be manufactured and printed here. They'd also be using a lot of Reliant energy to cool that refrigerated facility and be lining the pockets of those Houston workers, too...you get the idea.

Now, in the Dallas scenario, All that moves north and we get admittedly higher volume, I guess, but it's just jobs like crane operators and truck drivers. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it sets up a finite wall, where no more economic expansion could really be created at some point. Dallas, on the other hand, would seem to continue benefitting from the trickle-down effect of all the other support business created.

Here's another thing -- if we build upon Dallas' dominance as a shipping center with the one area where we currently trump them, aren't we building even bigger incentives for companies that rely on primarily ground and air freight to bypass Houston altogether? As it stands now, we always have that port ace up our sleeve. Take that away and we're left with all the blue-collar work and none of the white.

Finally, I'm all for a psychological joining of hands with Dallas, but screw their economic expansion. It's still a bloody war for corporate relocations, jobs, money, prestige, etc. We are in competition with Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, etc. and are winning on many fronts. Why would we share our biggest weapon for seemingly so little in return?

[tamtagon]

Finally, I'm all for a psychological joining of hands with Dallas, but screw their economic expansion. It's still a bloody war for corporate relocations, jobs, money, prestige, etc. We are in competition with Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, etc. and are winning on many fronts. Why would we share our biggest weapon for seemingly so little in return?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ya, I know, just because the cities are in the same state doesnt mean resources should be shared, and this would potentially displace thousands of port related warehouse jobs. My impression is that these jobs would be generally unskilled labor, I dont really know. I'm also guessing much of the increased ship-to-shore cargo transfer would basically be an automated process. I was living in SoCal while the Port of LA was upgraded through heavy Union protests. LA moves more cargo using fewer people as a result of the upgrades....

Right now, the only value to the Houston area from the Dallas agile port would be toward a competitive advantage over New Orleans and other Gulf Coast ports.

[J.A.S.O.N.]

dalparadise, there was a proposal two or three years ago to merge the Port of Galveston with the Port of Houston, and voters in decided no. Galveston wanted to remain a seperate entity. It was a pretty big deal down here at the time.

From the Corpus Christi paper

"The merger with Houston, already the eighth-largest port in the world, would bring Galveston the financial backing it needs to revive its aging docks and buy new equipment. Houston, which doesn't have the available land to expand, would give the Galveston port $30 million in the next 10 years in exchange for a location that is 50 miles closer to the open water.

Galveston Mayor Roger P. Quiroga said the merger would give the city a start on making $140 million in repairs the port needs..."

http://www.caller2.com/2000/november/03/to...al_ne/8279.html