GlobeSt.com: Then what happened?

Spencer: New regulations by Customs & Border Security have put new strains on the supply chain, causing new delays and making delivery times less certain. And every time you get into a delay or uncertainty, you mess up that just-in-time philosophy. That's only going to get worse due to new regulations to be imposed by the Department of Homeland Security. We're seeing that manufacturers and importers are now looking to have more stock on hand to be able to maintain their just-in-time requirements. That means if they had 10 containers worth of goods on standby, it will now be 11 or 12. Repeat that enough times over and you've created demand for a lot more space. Manufacturers can't afford to have a plant go down and retailers can't afford to have shelves sit empty. So they've got to build in a margin of safety to compensate for delays due to security inspections.

GlobeSt.com: Do you see signs of this buildup?

Spencer: In 2007, we got very, very lean in this country because we were anticipating a reduction in consumer demand. So we let wholesale inventories get exceptionally low. The evidence that we're hitting a turning point is that wholesale stock all over the US is growing even though retail inventories are not. On the manufacturing end, one manufacturer told me they're going to add 20% more days in their safety stock. So if they had four million sf of storage across the US, now they're going to need five million sf. This now has hit a zenith. A very serious note has occurred in this whole symphony called the supply chain.

GlobeSt.com: Is this confined to port markets?

Spencer: It's happening all over. It will affect every place where you've got industrial product. My feeling is it will be as much a positive for the market as the recession is a negative.